Sparta begins icy journey to open water

The damaged Russian fishing boat Sparta, moored to the Antarctic ice with life rafts deployed alongside. Photo / supplied

The damaged Russian shipping vessel Sparta has begun its journey to open water after being stranded off the coast of Antarctica.

The hull of the 48m ship was punctured when it hit an iceberg alongside the Antarctic ice shelf, about 3700km southeast of New Zealand, on December 16.

South Korean icebreaker Araon reached the Sparta yesterday morning and began transferring fuel onto the stranded ship, lifting its bow and exposing the 10cm by 40cm hole, about 1.5m below the waterline. That allowed metal plates to be welded over the hole.

The Araon was ploughing through the surface ice away from the ice shelf, creating a lane for both ships to follow to open water, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) said in a statement.

It was expected to rendezvous with its sister ship, Chiyo Mary, in the next 12 hours.

It was not known what the next step would be but RCCNZ has previously said the Sparta could be brought to Lyttelton for further repairs.

The Sparta was trawling for Patagonian toothfish when became stranded nearly two weeks ago.

The 32 crew have since struggled to pump water out of the damaged ship and keep it afloat as they waited for emergency repair supplies.

Last week a Royal New Zealand Hercules C130 was sent to the ship to drop pumps and other equipment.