About 50 vessels are stuck in ice near Stockholm archipelago

06.03.2010 Source: RIA Novosti, photo: Stockholm archipelago (stbjp.msn.com)

About 50 vessels with thousands of passengers were stuck in ice in the Baltic Sea near Stockholm, informs France Presse referring to Swedish authorities.

According to preliminary data, the ships will unlikely be released from ice captivity within nearest hours.

"About 50 merchant ships including four large passenger ferries are waiting for icebreaker assistance", said Swedish official having added that two passenger ships were recently released.

It was previously reported with reference to Swedish informational agency TT that passenger ship Amorella with 900 passengers on board sailing from Finland to Stockholm had collided with cargo vessel Finnfellow heading for Finland. The reason was solid ice cover; nobody suffered during collision, ships only rubbed each other by boards.

Cold weather and north-east wind during recent days resulted in vast ice floe off Swedish east coast; the ice hindered navigation in the region.

Swedish maritime authorities recommend shipping companies to temporarily withhold sailing between Stockholm archipelago and Aland Islands due to ice floe.

According to experts, Sweden east coast has not experienced such vast ice floe for recent 14 years.