Rare Baltic Ice Traps 1,000 Passengers

Rare Baltic Ice Traps 1,000 Passengers

The extreme weather conditions that saw dozens of ships and more than 1,000 passengers trapped in Baltic ice last week is expected to improve today, easing pressure on the region’s icebreaking fleet. But with the Baltic’s traditional ice peak yet to be reached, experts are concerned that further problems may be on the way.

Swedish icebreakers had to free the Viking Line ferry Amorella on Thursday after it was trapped in ice overnight outside Stockholm with 943 people on board. Two other ferries, Isabella and Finnfellow , managed to break free but only after two of Sweden’s smaller icebreakers had been defeated by ice compacted by gale-force winds. Larger icebreakers were also dispatched by Sweden and Finland to assist dozen of vessels caught up in some of the worst weather conditions seen in the region for decades. According to Sweden’s maritime administration ice breaking unit, the ice was the worst since the early 1990s. A passenger ferry has not been trapped in ice since 1986.