TV AND WEB RESTRICTIONS~**TV3 (NEW ZEALAND) - NO ACCESS NEW ZEALAND NEW ZEALAND INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY NEW ZEALAND BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE - ACCESS ALL / A second cargo of equipment and fuel for the Russian fishing vessel Sparta stranded in Antarctica is loaded aboard a New Zealand Air Force plane. The crew of the C-130 Hercules will drop four packages from the plane, containing diesel, tools, timber and patches to repair the 30 centimetre (1 foot) hole in its hull. The crew will need to do trial runs of dropping the equipment onto the ice as high winds are forecast. "We've got unfavourable winds so we've got an eight hour flight time, so it's an hour longer than the last flight. When we get down there we are not expecting the best conditions around Sparta. We are expecting quite a low cloud base and that can offer us different challenges like white-out conditions when we get down there," said Flight Lieutenant James Anderson. The Sparta's crew has been pumping water from the hull since it was holed by ice on Friday (December 16). The first consignment of additional pumps and fuel was dropped to them on Saturday (December 17) by the New Zealand Air Force. The ship was no longer listing and was now on an even keel, according to the Maritime New Zealand and Rescue Co-ordination Centre. The Sparta's agent has commissioned a South Korean ice-breaker to join the rescue effort, and is expected to arrive in the area on December 26.
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