The icebreaker was involved in the shipment of oil in the Arctic Gateway terminal. While working on an ice floe nearby people saw an animal. The animal was white and immediately the sailors thought it was a fox or a bear, which are often found in these places. They looked at the animal through binoculars and realized that it was a dog, well cared for and domesticated.
Someone from the team said that the dog must be frozen, after which it was decided to help the animal.
It was the end of May, at that time the ice drift began on the Gulf of Ob, and there was a fear that at any moment the ice floe would start to drift, carrying away with it a frightened dog. It was not necessary to hope that the animal would be found by its owners, because the ice block and the nearest settlement were separated by about 6 km. It was clear that the dog would not cope by itself. The cold, the long road weakened it, and the ice severely damaged its paws.
Fortunately, the dog was not at all afraid of people and, having noticed them, headed towards the icebreaker. As soon as the people called for the animal, it deftly climbed up the gangway to the deck.
Once the dog was safe, it was taken to warm up, and the crew contacted the village. The animal’s owner was found within minutes. It turned out that the woman had been looking everywhere for her pet and had been very worried since it disappeared.
It turned out that the dog was one year old and her name was Aika. The owners could not even assume that she would be so far from the village. The pet always behaved obediently during her walks and tried not to get too far away from people. Apparently, Aika decided to go for a walk on her own and got lost. The dog had been wandering on the ice for several weeks until the icebreaker, whose crew interrupted their work in order to help the animal, came across it.
