Passengers rescued after ferries trapped in Baltic Sea ice

Nearly 1,000 people had to be rescued after dozens of ferries were trapped by ice in the Baltic Sea this week.

Ferries belonging to companies including Viking Line and Tallink were freed from pack ice in the Baltic Sea today (March 5th) after being trapped in the area for several days.

Icebreakers were deployed by maritime authorities in Sweden and Finland to aid the ships, which were stranded between Stockholm and the Aland Islands.

Some 943 passengers were rescued from the Viking Line ferry Amorella.

At least 26 vessels are thought to be awaiting assistance in the Bay of Bothnia, BBC News reported.

Jonas Lindvall of the Swedish Maritime Administration said the situation has been exacerbated by strong winds blowing across the Baltic Sea, which created ice ridges that caused a problem for the ferries.

"They got caught outside the archipelago, where there is moving ice. It's hard to navigate," he told the AFP news agency.

Viking Line and Tallink operate ferry services from ports including Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm in Scandinavia and eastern Europe.

Posted by Andrew Smith