Australia Has Rescued 37 People Stranded on an Icebreaker Ship in Antarctica

Australia sent a mission to rescue 37 people who were stranded aboard an Australian icebreaking ship that ran aground after a severe blizzard Wednesday.

Australian officials said on Friday that they were launching a rescue mission to retrieve the members of the icebreaker’s expedition and bring them to Mawson Station — an Australian research facility on Antarctica — reports the BBC. Thirty-one crew members will stay onboard the 4,311-ton vessel, the Aurora Australis, and work to refloat it.

All 68 passengers and crew are safe, authorities said, and the vessel itself incurred only a small breach in its hull. The ship ran aground Wednesday morning when a massive blizzard untethered it from its mooring lines.

[BBC]