BERING SEA - A Seattle-based Coast Guard Cutter escorting a Russian-flagged tanker on its way to Nome, Alaska.
But the Coast Guard says it's taking longer than expected for the crew of the cutter Healy to escort a Russian tanker through to Bering Sea ice to deliver fuel to Nome.
The iced-in city is running out of fuel after a regular fall delivery was cancelled because of stormy weather.
Officials had expected the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy and the tanker Renda to arrive Monday, but now they're not setting an arrival date.
Lt. Bernard Auth at the District 17 command center in Juneau said early Monday the ships are about 165 miles from Nome, averaging about 2 mph through ice up to 2.5 feet thick.
The 420-foot cutter Healy is the Coast Guard's only operational polar icebreaker.
The vessels are transiting through ice up to five-feet thick.
The Renda is carrying more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel.
The two vessels departed Dutch Harbor on Jan. 3.
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