Two cargo ships near Estonia have been stranded in icy waters that have not been so frozen for some years.
The Portugal-flagged vessel Bugoe was at the time of writing still trapped between the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland, with ice breakers being deployed to help get her out of the harsh conditions that appear to have taken operators by surprise.
Estonian television said high winds, drifting ice and falling sea levels in already shallow waters had contributed to the incident alongside human error, which it did not elaborate upon. The freighter was apparently destined for Stockholm with a consignment of wood chippings, the channel said.
An earlier attempt by a tug to release the vessel had initially been successful until the captain attempted to return to port when it stuck in its current location.
Earlier in the same week the Friendland vessel, with a Latvian flag, was rescued by a local ro-ro ferry when she became stuck in ice flows in the Väinameri Sea as she attempted to return to the Baltic.
Estonian shipping firm Praamid, which operates ferries between the mainland and islands at the northern end of the Gulf of Riga, sent its 5,000gt ro-ro passenger ferry the Tõll to her rescue, which was achieved by opening a channel.
Tõll then escorted Friendland back to open water, from where she continued to Finland.
“Local officials said there have not been major ice problems in the past few years, but overnight strong winds and drift ice combined to immobilise the two small cargo ships,” media reports said.
