Crew members aboard this scientific research ship pointed to the icebreaker as it appeared on the horizon hoping that it would cut free their ship, trapped since Christmas Day.
But the icebreaker itself became trapped in dense ice off East Antarctica.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY SPOKESPERSON, ANDREA HAYWARD-MAHER SAYING:
"If it's the case that they can't get through that ice then they will have to wait perhaps for further support for the Aurora Australis which is still sometime away."
The Australia's Antarctic resupply ship the Auror Australis is not expected to arrive until Sunday.
But the mission ship -- the Akademik Shokalskiy -- is well stocked and the 74 people on board are in good health.
The scientists are following the route the Australian explorer Douglas Mawson travelled a century ago and looking at changes to the environment over the past 100 years.
