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MOSCOW, June 28 (AFP) - South African helicopters Thursday managed to airlift 21 Russian scientists off an ice-bound German vessel in the Antarctic, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported Friday.

The two Oryx helicopters also managed to deliver half a tonne of food for the remaining passengers and crew aboard the Magdalena Oldendorff, which since June 14 has been trapped in pack ice about 300 kilometres (180 miles) from the South African Antarctic base on Queen Maude Land.

According to Valery Kalyazin, director of the International Antarctic logistics center, the two Oryx helicopters would attempt to make two trips each on Friday in a bid to rescue 40 more people.

However, the attempt was likely to fail, as Antarctica's four-hour daytime allows for only one such trip for each of the helicopters, which take three and a half hours to reach the stranded ship and return to the SA Agulhas, Kalyagin warned.

The Agulhas -- which has a strengthened hull but is not an ice-breaker -- left Cape Town 13 days ago on the rescue mission and had to stop at about 190 sea miles from the stricken vessel.

The Argentine icebreaker Almirante Irizar left Buenos Aires early on Tuesday and is expected to join the operation within the next 10 days.- Nampa-AFP

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