Antarctica: Shokalskiy Passengers Rescued
All 52 scientists and tourists on board a ship trapped by ice since Christmas Eve have been airlifted to safety.

新聞背景：
俄羅斯科考船“紹卡利斯基院士”號被困南極超過一周后，中國、澳大利亞和法國的3艘破冰船此前的救援行動均因天氣原因以及冰層厚度超出破冰能力而告失敗。最終，經過多方討論，決定用中國“雪龍”號上的直升機疏散俄羅斯科考船上的乘客。
中澳兩國的救援船——中國雪龍號和澳大利亞南極光號均停泊在圍困俄羅斯船的浮冰區邊緣地帶，它們與后者的距離分別為11.8海里和14.6海里（1海里等于1.852公里）。
經過努力，所有52名被困乘客及其行李已全部由中國直升機運出，并已轉移到南極光號上。

We’ve just heard that a helicopter, the Chinese icebreaker, Julong is heading over to check out our helipad just behind me. If it all goes well, we’ll be off in about an hour’s time.
In the end it was help from above which came to the rescue of the stranded scientists and tourists, with their ship firmly wedged in 3m thick ice, the 52 passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy waited patiently for their turn in the helicopter. A dozen people at a time were flown off the ice.
It’s first of the helicopters to take us home.
Thanks, everyone.
The Akademik got stuck on Christmas eve, three ships try to come and set her free—French vessel L’astrolabe, Australia’s Aurora Australis, and the Chinese Julong, meaning snow dragon, all failed to break the ice and set the Akademik free. But the snow Dragon stayed in free water, and when the weather cleared, its chopper airlifted the passengers to safety. They are now on the Aurora Australis ready for the 15,000 nautical mile journey to Tasmania.
With a rescue by sea not possible, the chopper was the last hope. The passengers foot in some legwork and created their own temporary helipad. But not everyone has left the ship, rescue coordinators in Australia are in touch with the 22 Russian crew members who’ve stayed on board. It’s fully operational, it’s fully prepared to be in the ice. It’s well stored and well provisioned, so the risks will be low for the crew.
It was a Christmas and New Year the stranded passengers won’t forget, at least now, they can properly celebrate, but they may well face criticism too, with 3 working ships diverted and what’s been a difficult and expensive operation.
Johansson Samuels, Sky News, Sydney.