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Science

107 People Stranded in Antarctica 34

Posted by michael from the global-warming-needed-quickly dept.
RedArmy18 writes "A German freighter carrying 107 people became trapped when the boat got stuck in the ice. Argentina was going to launch a rescue effort but it has been caught in a dispute over the cost, the Russian govt. has also considered sending an icebreaker to free the crew."
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107 People Stranded in Antarctica More

107 People Stranded in Antarctica

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  • USCG (Score:2, Insightful)

    by littlerubberfeet ( 453565 )
    The USCG has 2 icebreakers, one around each pole. Where are those? or is homeland security more important then tourists?

    Also, why the HELL are there researchers there now?? Antarctic 'winter' is starting. 40 below in the day, wind, hail, it gets nasty. Tourists can only go from September to March. Anyone doing research should already be at a base, with food and supplies.

    • Re:USCG (Score:3, Informative)

      by Ivan Raikov ( 521143 )
      Also, why the HELL are there researchers there now?

      A careful perusal of the article in question reveals that the ship was changing the crew at two research stations. Seems that work in these stations continues all year long.

      What I'm curious about is, why don't they send cargo airplanes to drop off packages of food (or helicopter fuel) near the ship, where they can be picked up by the crew.

      As for the Coast Guard ice breakers, the web sites of both the USCGC Healy and the USCGC Polar Star seem to suggest that these ships are operating in the Arctic this year. The web site of the USCGC Polar Sea was shut down, "due to recent events." Ah well.
      • ahhhh, thank you. RTF......Article I guess
      • helicopter fuel

        If this happened often enough, we could hasten the melting of Antartica (raising seas 16 feet) much faster than global warming [bovik.org], even.

        Did anyone read Douglas Adam's Last Chance To See? If people are willing to spend that much money and disruptive tourism on endangered species safaries, all while ignoring the cognitive dissonance, can real estate on sea-going glacier ice be too far behind?

        All with heated cabins and world-class chefs, I'm sure.

  • It even mentions the fact that cigarettes are all used up in the CNN.com article. This is one way that's better than the patch to quit smoking. Err, wait...or was that the best way to drive yourself to suicide...
  • Argentina was going to launch a rescue effort but it has been caught in a dispute over the cost, the Russian govt. has also considered sending an icebreaker to free the crew.

    Hey, I have an idea. Instead of actually saving their lives, let's just argue about it. Or maybe we'll just think about it. Actually DOING something would be a bit premature, though.

    • Re:What the hell? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by raduga ( 216742 )
      Hey, I have an idea. Instead of actually saving their lives, let's just argue about it. Or maybe we'll just think about it. Actually DOING something would be a bit premature, though.

      Yeah. Saving lives *is* preferable, but keep in mind, that in Antarctic winter, conditions down south are *dangerous* for rescuer and rescuee alike.

      There are probably several available options, for the Argentines as well as for the Russians. Cost is probably one factor, as is availability of ships on-site, and the comparative cost of operations vs reliability, safety, and other cascading effects of moving these ships about. I suppose Argentina would not want the liability/embarassment if their expedition proved ineffective in getting the people out to safety. If the Russians have a ship in the region, with crew available and willing to assist, hooray for them, should they choose to step in and bail the people out. It may take a few weeks to get ships from Argentine port, or Russian cruise, so a couple days argument is probably better *now* than after they get underway.

      (less aggravating for the ships enroute, too!)

  • Germany should simply offer to pay Argentina to rescue it's citizens. And perhaps throw in some foriegn aid. I can see why Argentina would be a little hesitant, since thier economy has been tanking recently - it's hard to sell a rescue mission for 107 people from another country to your populace when your economy is in the hole.
  • Good to know they've got thier priorities straight.
    • The term is called "Murder by the numbers"

      Let's say Argentina is offered X to go rescue these guys. Unfortunatly, it turns out to cost Y (where Y > X)

      Y - X = Z

      If you can save more than 107 people using Z dollars in social programs or something, you don't go rescue the people. It becomes even more sticky in this case, because a government is being asked to save the citizens of another country (tough to justify to your voters) who got themselves in the situation in the first place.

      Now, before I come off as too much of a cold hearted bastard, this is not how the human mind works. Fortunatly or unfortunatly we go on what is immediate and right in front of us. This is why people will give a couple dollars to a homeless guy, but never seem to do 5 cents a dat to save the children through a much more reliable program.


      ---Lane
    • 1. I'm not going to defend my goverment.
      2. the Argentine army will run out of money next month [lanacion.com.ar](in spanish)

      3. They planned a rescue mission. [lanacion.com.ar](in spanish) with 2 problems, money and juridiction, argentina say must be local juridiction, no international, in case of problems.
  • Argentina was going to launch a rescue effort but it has been caught in a dispute over the cost

    Yeah... Why waste something as valuable as money to save something as worthless as 107 human lives? Humans are easily replaced anyway, but money... now that is difficult to earn, especially when you're a government.

    • I take your point but the Argentinian economy is in total meltdown and I'm not surprised that cost has become an issue. Last I heard the Argentinian national debt was in the region of $132 billion - may not seem a lot by American standards but the Argies really don't have any way to service a debt of that size.
    • Looking at the recent economic situation in Argentina, I would not be surprised that the discussion is along the lines of "We don't have enough money to buy fuel to get there, not to mention coming back".
      Keep in mind that the argentinean peso has sunk respect to the dollar and while most supplies are tied to the dollar (and quick to increase its prices given the slightest peso depreciation), government budgets are still in pesos (and most of that money is borrowed, anyway).

      Anyway, they should do something fast! (if they heven't done anything by now)

      Pablo B.
  • Hey, didn't you hear? Argentina is *OUT*. Germany will play against the USA tomorrow morning/tonight, depending on your longitude.
  • - Would you like to play a game of chess ?

    - No, I want to play global thermonuclear war. It's FREEZING down here!

  • The Ice Master (Score:4, Interesting)

    by iiii ( 541004 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @02:16PM (#3744871) Homepage
    Reminds me of a book I just finished reading, The Ice Master [amazon.com]. It's a great book. It is the true story of the Karluk and its crew, who, during a polar expedition, got stuck in the arctic ice in 1913. The ice they were trapped in drifted hundreds of miles, from Alaska to Siberia, so no one could find them. They were trapped with the ship for some seven months, then the ship sank and they were stranded out there on the ice. They survived on the ice for several more months, then most of them managed to get to land, and the captain trekked hundreds of miles to get to the western coast of Siberia, where he got passage to Alaska to arrange a rescue. In the end more than half of them died, and the rescue finally got to them a year and three months after they were iced in.

    Things are much better for these folks in Antarctica, of course, but if these things interest you I highly recommend the book.

    • One of the great attempts at antarctic exploration was perhaps even more astounding. I think the explorers were lost for more than a year, and it took a handful of people sailing thousands (?) of miles in an open boat, then crossing a glacier on foot.

  • South Africa Responded (Score:3, Informative)

    by gus goose ( 306978 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @02:32PM (#3744996) Journal
    South Africa responded as well ... [cnn.com]

    Well, SA has the supplies, but does not have an icebreaker to get them there...

    gus

  • It started on June 21:st from northern Baltic, will stop only at Cape Town after leaving Sweden. Getting to the Antarctic will take about one month.

    This is sort of a backup if nothing else works, so they might turn back. (They charge 25 thousand Euro per day + fuel which will be about half a million.)

    Oden [sjofartsverket.se] (handles more than the 1.9 m ice mentioned here, but more slowly as I recall), recently back from an expedition to the Arctic [sjofartsverket.se] (text in Swedish, but a PDF file showing the course) is the most powerful non-nuclear ice breaker there is.

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