The Australian government said today it will send a ship to retrieve two seized activists from a Japanese whaler in Antarctic waters.
The move follows a two-day stand-off in which Briton Giles Lane (35) and Australian Benjamin Potts (28) were being held on board the ship, one of the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters.
An Australian customs ship will pick up the two men and return them to their anti-whaling vessel , Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.
The two sides in the dispute have traded accusations of piracy and terrorism since the activists boarded the harpoon ship on Tuesday. Mr Smith urged both sides to end their acrimony to allow a safe transfer of the pair.
The protesters brought the Japanese whaling hunt to a standstill when Mr Potts and Mr Lane jumped from a rubber boat on to the Japanese ship's deck off Antarctica after a high-speed chase.