POLAR AASSIK

scrapped

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Course/Position

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Trawler under tow to Qaqortoq

On March 7, 2019, the Danish arctic inspection ship "Hvidbjørnen" was ordered to sail from Qaqortoq at Cape Farewell to a position approximately 40 miles east of the entrance to the Prins Christians sound where the "Polar Aassik" had suffered engine trouble in a potentially critical situation, as there was a storm warning for the area. The vessel arrived at the position in the early morning of March 8, when the weather had deteriorated significantly. The inspection ship considered that it was not safe to transfer tow ropes to the casualty. Instead, it was deciced to say close to the trawler and escort it, while the northern winds and the waves pushed it southwards behind the Cape Farewell. Two days passed with storm and wind speeds of 30 m/s and a wave height of ten meters. Only on March 10, the wave heights dropped to only 4-5 meters, sot that the "Hvidbjørnen" could establish a towing connection to the trawler and started pulling it towards Qaqortoq at a speed of 3-4 knots. In the morning of March 11, the towing wire broke, and while the crew worked on establishing a new conntection, it was planned that the tug "Masik Viking" (MMSI: 331000392) would take over the tow from the inspection vessel. The "Polar Aassik" was towed by the "Masik Viking" into the port of Nuuk on March 12 at 10.30 p.m. Danish report with photo: https://www2.forsvaret.dk/omos/organisation/arktisk/nyhederfraAK/Pages/Hvidbj%C3%B8rnenerindsattilsl%C3%A6bningih%C3%A5rdtvejr.aspx