50 ships, with thousands of people, trapped in Baltic Sea ice

The passenger ferry "Amorella" broke free early Friday from heavy pack ice that had trapped it for hours, after ice breakers came to its aid at the edge of an archipelago north of Stockholm, rescue spokesman Jonas Sundin said.

Rescue helicopters and military hovercraft had been placed on standby to evacuate passengers if needed.

Sundin said no one was hurt and the ship continued its journey to the Swedish capital.

Dozens of other ships remained trapped and waiting for assistance.

Among those were the roll-on-roll-off ferry Sea Wind with 32 people and the Regal Star, a cargo ship with 56 people on board. Three other ferries were able to break free on Thursday.

One of those ships, the Finnfellow, hit lightly the Amorella when the ice forced the two ships together, but there was no major damage to either ship, sea rescue spokesman Peter Lindquist said. "Just some paint that was scratched off," he added.