A Russian ship ferrying passengers from the Kuril Islands in the northern Pacific to the Sakhalin peninsula has been stranded in ice for days off the coast of Japan.
The Igor Farkhutdinov cruise ship, carrying 127 passengers and 42 shipping containers, encountered thick ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, the regional government of Sakhalin said in a statement published Thursday.
The head of the vessel’s maritime company cited the captain’s experience and a week’s worth of fuel supplies and rations to reassure that the passengers aboard the ship were not under threat.
“The passengers are provided with everything that’s necessary, a decision has been made to feed them for free,” the Sakhalin administration quoted the company director as saying.
He added that sea ice conditions could change within a day and that the passenger ship could arrive at the port of Korsakov in the Sakhalin region by Friday.
“We are addressing all issues related to the prompt rescue of the vessel from ice captivity through constant dialogue with the shipowner,” the head of the regional transport ministry said.
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