A Chinese icebreaker is expected to reach a ship stuck in pack ice off East Antarctica late on Friday.
About 70 scientists and crew aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy, which became stuck on Christmas Eve. A distress message was broadcast on Wednesday morning.
A BBC science reporter aboard the ship says two large icebergs were moving in parallel to their vessel, but since stopped moving any closer.
The Xue Long (Snow Dragon) is one of three vessels en route to the stranded ship. The other two are from Australia and France.
