This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard from the bridge camera aboard the Ice Breaker Healy taken at 4:01 a.m. EST shows lites on the shore line as the Healy and the tanker approach Nome Alaska Friday Jan. 13, 2012. At the time of this image the Healy was 9.2 miles from Nome. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard)
This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard from the bridge camera aboard the Ice Breaker Healy taken at 4:01 a.m. EST shows lites on the shore line as the Healy and the tanker approach Nome Alaska Friday Jan. 13, 2012. At the time of this image the Healy was 9.2 miles from Nome. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard)
Coast Guard Forces Valdez personnel train on snow machines in the Nome harbor Jan. 12, 2012. The Forces Valdez personnel are preparing to enforce the safety zone during the fuel transfer from the Russian tanker Renda. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)
Coast Guard Cmdr. James Houck, the Forward Operating Base Nome Ice Boss, assists Scott O?Shea, with Vitus Marine, outline a safe path across the ice for fuel transfer hose in the Nome harbor Jan. 12, 2012. The path is being prepared for fuel hoses to deliver 1.3 million gallons of petroleum product to the City of Nome. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the Russian tanker Renda transits through the Bering Sea with the Coast Guard Cutter Healy?s assistance Jan. 10, 2012. The Renda is carrying 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products for delivery to Nome. Progress was stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents Tuesday. The vessels made nine miles but drifted with the ice while at rest for a total gain of just six miles, Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley said. Ice conditions remained tough Wednesday. The Coast Guard said the two vessels were in densely concentrated ice about 100 miles from Nome by mid-afternoon. (AP photo/US Coast Guard)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? A Russian tanker hauling much-needed fuel across the ice-choked Bering Sea to the Alaska city of Nome was just six miles from its destination Friday morning.
The vessel reached the area late Thursday night but was waiting until daylight before advancing farther, U.S. Coast Guard official Adam De Rocher said.
Daylight doesn't come to that part of Alaska until 11:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. PST).
The 370-foot tanker carrying more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel was shepherded through hundreds of miles of sea ice by a Coast Guard icebreaker.
Crews are waiting for light because it will be safer going through the ice and they will have a better idea of where to anchor to start unloading fuel.
"They want to get a good staging area to start taking fuel off and that would be easier in the morning," he said.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard is urging Nome residents to stay off the ice to view the two vessels because it's unsafe with the ships around.
The city of about 3,500 people on the western Alaska coastline normally gets fuel by barge. But it didn't get its last pre-winter fuel delivery because of a massive storm and it could run out of crucial supplies before spring.
Officials of the Sitnasuak Native Corp, one of the companies undertaking the delivery, have said they settled on the Russian tanker delivery plan after determining it would be much less expensive and more practical than flying fuel into Nome. The vessel, which is certified to travel through ice 4-feet thick for long distances, normally delivers fuel to communities in the Russian Far East.
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