By Brook Sabin
A New Zealand Air Force Hercules has returned from a rescue mission to a Russian trawler in the Southern Ocean that is holed and taking on water.
Three ships are on the way to help but are still days away.
3 News has obtained the first moving pictures of the stricken ship and rescue operation.
Just 120 metres above the iceshelf which has trapped the trawler, you have just seen the Hercules drop a lifesaving pump.
If they have misjudged it rhe pump could sink in the water but fortunately it lands on ice just metres away from the ship.
It was a tricky mission for flight Lieutenant James Anderson.
“We practise for this all the time over land, but we don't often do this over the ice,” he says.
The ship first declared an emergency last Friday after it hit the ice and was damaged.
They have been using two pumps onboard but needed another in case one failed.
The Hercules did a number of fly-bys before they made the drop.
“To descend down and get below the cloud and see what kind of environment they are actually trapped in was a real eye opener,” says Mr Anderson.
The crew of the Sparta have now requested more equipment and the Air force may again use the Hercules for another mercy dash south.
3 News