Russian icebreaker Admiral Makarov rescued a scientific research ship, the Professor Kizevetter, Russian Transport Ministry said.
On Friday, December 31, the Sodruzhestvo fishery mother ship, the refrigerator freighter Bereg Nadezhdy, and the scientific research ship, the Professor Kizevetter, requested help. There were some 400 crew members on board the vessels.
The Professor Kizevetter vessel will be futher escorted by an icebreaker, the Magadan to a safe area.
Earlier bad weather conditions hampered efforts to rescue icebound ships in Sea of Okhotsk.
An operation to rescue vessels, stuck in ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, off Russia's Far Eastern coast, is hampered by poor weather conditions, the Far East Shipping Company said on Friday.
Three ships have been trapped since Friday in ice up two meters thick. Two more ships became stuck on Monday but were freed two days later.
The Admiral Makarov icebreaker approached the ships on Thursday afternoon and started pulling one of the vessels to open water.
On Monday, another icebreaker, the Magadan, was dispatched to rescue the stranded vessels, but failed to complete the mission since it did not have enough power to free the ships alone.
A third icebreaker is on its way to reach some 400 people on the three ships stuck since last week, who have sufficient fuel, food and water.
MOSCOW, January 7 (RIA Novosti)
