A team of five salvage experts have now managed to board the Shell drilling ship stranded off the coast of Alaska, news agencies said on Thursday.

The team was taken to the Kulluk by helicopter and spent three hours on board the ship. Earlier efforts to land on the ship, which stranded on Monday, failed because of the continuing bad weather.
Dutch company Smit Salvage is taking the lead in the rescue effort, ANP reported. Air surveillance has shown that so far none of the 585,000 litres of oil on board have leaked.
The Kulluk was being towed south for repairs and improvements when it broke free during the storm.
Environmentalists have long argued that drilling in the Arctic is too dangerous because of harsh conditions, remote locations and risk of spillages.