SYDNEY // Gusty snow showers which hampered visibility have forced back an Australian icebreaker struggling to reach a scientific expedition ship stranded off Antarctica, and also prevented a helicopter rescue.
The Aurora Australis made it to within 10 nautical miles of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which is stuck in an ice field, before retreating in the face of freezing winds and snow showers.
“The area where the MV Akademik Shokalskiy is beset by ice and is currently experiencing winds of up to 30 knots and snow showers,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said on Monday.
“These weather conditions have resulted in poor visibility and made it difficult and unsafe for the Aurora Australis to continue today’s attempt to assist the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.”
The authority said further rescue attempts could be made once the weather improved and the Australian vessel was now in open waters about 18 nautical miles east of the trapped Russian ship.
Australia’s rescue coordination centre is in regular contact with the ship, which is carrying 74 people – including scientists, tourists and crew – and has been stationary 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont D’Urville since December 24.
Its passengers, who had been following in the footsteps of the Australian Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 expedition, remain safe and well on their well-provisioned vessel, the safety authority said.
Three icebreakers including the Aurora Australis were called to help free the Russian vessel. The first attempt, by a Chinese-flagged vessel, was unable to break through the ice while a third vessel was released from the rescue, leaving hopes pinned on the Australian icebreaker.
Authorities had hoped that a helicopter on board the Chinese-flagged vessel, which remains in the area, would be able to evacuate the passengers if the Aurora Australis was unsuccessful.
But the safety authority said the weather made it unsafe to attempt to launch the helicopter.
Chris Turney, one of the leaders of the scientific expedition, said via Skype from the stranded ship that those on board were in good spirits and wanted their families and friends to know they were safe and well.
“It’s Antarctica, we are just taking it one day at a time,” he said, adding that Monday’s failed rescue had been hampered by very poor visibility as much as the ice.
“The conditions are so extreme in Antarctica, you just never know. We are always hopeful.”
Mr Turney, who is professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said satellite images indicated that their vessel had become stuck in ice which had broken away from a glacier.
The fierce winds had pushed it into an area of normally open sea, blocking the ship’s progress, and this ice was now three to four metres thick in some places, although in others there were gaps with no ice.
“It’s an unusual event that’s happened,” he said. “We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
* Agence France-Presse
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Company: Justmop.com
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Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
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