Scientists adrift on Arctic ice hope for air rescue

Twelve Russian scientists were stranded on a disintegrating free-floating icepack near the north pole last night with dwindling power and food supplies, after 90% of their research base was destroyed when the icepack it was built upon began to fragment and sink.

A high-risk rescue operation using the world's largest helicopter to pluck the men off the ice is being planned, but rescuers say the task will be dangerous in the extreme and highly dependent upon weather conditions.

Artur Chillingarov, the rescue team leader and a seasoned Arctic explorer, said the operation could begin as early as today but warned that the scientists' location - 450 miles north of Norway's Spitzbergen archipelago - was generally considered inaccessible for helicopters and planes because it was so remote.

The men were surviving in two huts on the icepack drifting south with just five days' food left. The battery for their satellite phone was running low to the point that they could speak briefly to rescuers only at four-hour intervals.

The scientists, who have been studying global warming and weather patterns since last April, were reported to be trying to build an emergency shelter in a different location in case the icepack breaks apart again.

Russian television showed Mr Chillingarov telling the researchers via satellite phone: "Stay calm, everything will be ok. We'll try to take you off tomorrow in a dignified way and bring you back to the motherland."

Disaster struck on Wednesday evening when the icepack suddenly began to break up and huge walls of ice reared up crushing most of the base - North Pole 32.

Ninety per cent of the base quickly sank beneath the Arctic ocean with their power generator, much of their food, most of their living quarters and their sauna. Nobody was hurt.

Attempts to drop food and fuel to them are being hampered by the weather: the temperature is 32C below zero while the wind speed is 20 metres a second (45mph).

Russian TV says the men are well used to harsh conditions. Since they began their study they have drifted 1,800 miles. One of the scientists has spent 15 years of his life living on floating icepacks.

The ice they are camped upon is just two metres thick making a helicopter landing impossible, so rescuers plan to hover above the location in a Russian-built MI-26 and winch the men to safety. Two smaller helicopters - MI-8s - will drop food and fuel if the weather is too poor to permit a full rescue mission today.

Polar research has long been a symbol of Soviet/Russian power. The country's first polar research station was set up in 1937 when Joseph Stalin was in power and the research programme continued apace until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the country's 31st expedition had to be abandoned after the icepack it was built upon began to fragment in warmer waters. It was resumed 12 years later.