Moscow, Nov 20 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A Russian ship reached open water off Antarctica after struggling through a huge mass of sea ice for days, a Russian shipping company and a British travel agency said Friday. This Russian ship icebreaker was carrying over 100 tourists, scientists and journalists on a cruise around Antarctica and it was stuck in ice since Tuesday.

The icebreaker ship Captain Khlebnikov, with lots of passengers and journalists on board, got stuck in deep ice earlier this week near Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea. It took the ship five days to get out of the ice, Fareastern Shipping Co. spokeswoman Tatyana Kulikova said.

British-based Exodus Travels Ltd. also said that the ship is now in open waters and is expected to reach its destination of Argentine port of Ushuaia on Sunday, which is six days behind schedule, out of 5 days are accountable as it was stuck in ice for that duration.

This Russian luxury cruise was advertised as a unique opportunity to watch emperor penguins in their natural habitat. The Finnish-built icebreaker has been used as a cruise ship for numerous years and carries two helicopters too.

Kulikova said Antarctic weather is unpredictable in the early spring. “It’s impossible to avoid worsening ice conditions with rapidly changing weather,” she said. “There was nothing extraordinary in those conditions,” she said, adding that the ship’s captain has 20 years of experience.

“It’s part of Antarctic tourism — we always warn passengers about possible delays,” Vyacheslav Naganyuk, the head of icebreaker fleet at the Fareastern Shipping Company, said in a statement.