Chief mate : Passengers are very happy now to be on the Australian icebreaker . Turney , a climate change professor at the University of New South Wales , has said the ship was surrounded by ice up to nearly 10 feet ( 3 meters ) thick . He thanks Chinese icebreaker crew whose helicopter ferried 52 to safety . ` The captain of a Russian icebreaker, who was rescued by an Australian rescue helicopter, has thanked his rescuers for their "professionalism" and said he is grateful that they were able to save him. A huge thanks to all , '' a professor on the ship tweets . 22 Russian crew members are still on board the trapped ship , the MV Akademik Shokalskiy .
Chief mate : Passengers are very happy now to be on the Australian icebreaker . He thanks Chinese icebreaker crew whose helicopter ferried 52 to safety . ` The captain of a Russian icebreaker, who was rescued by an Australian rescue helicopter, has thanked his rescuers for their "professionalism" and said he is grateful that they were able to save him. A huge thanks to all , '' a professor on the ship tweets . 22 Russian crew members are still on board the trapped ship , the MV Akademik Shokalskiy .