Rescue vessel nears ship stuck in Antarctic ice

SYDNEY -- A ship that has been trapped in thick Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve was nearing rescue Friday, as a Chinese icebreaker named the Snow Dragon drew so close to the icebound vessel it could be seen on the horizon.

The Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been on a research expedition to Antarctica, got stuck Tuesday after a blizzard's whipping winds pushed the sea ice around the ship, freezing it in place. The ship wasn't in danger of sinking, and there were ample supplies for the 74 scientists, tourists and crew on board, but the vessel couldn't move.

'We've got a couple of weeks' worth of fresh food, and on top of that, if things get really bad, we've got two weeks of glorious dehydrated food,' expedition leader Chris Turney said in a Skype interview with CBS News.

Maritime authorities received the ship's distress signal on Wednesday and sent three icebreakers to assist.

By Friday afternoon, the Snow Dragon had made it as far as the edge of the sea ice surrounding the ship, 12 miles away, but still faced the tough task of getting through the dense pack ice to the paralyzed vessel.

Early Friday, Eastern Standard Time, Turney posted a YouTube video in which he said the Snow Dragon could be seen on the horizon and there were 'a lot of happy faces on board' the Shokalskiy.

The Australian climate scientist has filed video updates regularly from the distressed vessel at the bottom of the earth.

Changing weather conditions and the thickness of the ice could still slow the Snow Dragon's progress, said Andrea Hayward-Maher, spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue.

The scientific team on board the Shokalski - which left New Zealand on Nov. 28 - had been recreating Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica when it became trapped. They plan to continue their expedition after they are freed, Turney said.

Passengers and crew had to contend with blizzard conditions, including winds up to 40 miles per hour, but the weather had calmed considerably by Friday, Turney said.

'The blizzard we had yesterday was quite extraordinary - it's not nice when you can feel the ship shaking,' he said.

Despite the interruption of the expedition, the scientists have continued their research while stuck, counting birds in the area and drilling through the ice surrounding the ship to photograph sea life.