Copter Locates Researchers on Arctic Ice
A Russian rescue helicopter on Saturday located 12 scientists trapped for four days on an Arctic ice floe that broke apart, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
The Mi-8 helicopter was the first phase of an air rescue effort originating from the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, about 450 miles southeast of the floe, where the researchers have been working for nearly a year.
The helicopter landed on the floe and was to transmit its precise coordinates to a following Mi-26 heavy transport chopper that will pick up the men, ITAR-Tass said, citing rescue operation officials in Spitsbergen.
The meteorological research station North Pole-32 set up operations on the floe in April 2003. On Wednesday, a large part of the floe disappeared beneath the water, taking four of the station’s six buildings with it.