Passengers on a Russian polar expedition ship off Antarctica are getting a whiter Christmas than they probably wanted.

The MV Akademik Shokalskiy, with 74 people aboard, got trapped in ice and is waiting for other ships with ice-breaking capabilities to reach it, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said Wednesday.

A British rescue coordination center received a satellite distress signal on Christmas morning from the Russian-flagged ship and contacted the Australian authority, which handles the Southern Ocean region where the vessel was stuck, an AMSA statement said.

Three icebreakers were headed to help the Russian vessel, the AMSA statement said, adding that none were expected to reach it before Friday.

“According to reports, nobody is in present danger and three nearby icebreakers are being sent to assist,” the Expeditions Online website said.

It described the ship as “a fully ice-strengthened expedition vessel” for working in polar regions.

Two Italian tourists were found dead in their locked, poorly ventilated hotel room in Nepal’s capital, police said Thursday.

The man and woman were found late Tuesday after the hotel’s owners alerted police that the tourists were not responding to calls, police official Umesh Raj Joshi said. Police officers broke the windows, which were taped shut, and found the bodies lying on the bed.

Joshi said they appeared to be regular visitors to Nepal and the bodies were taken for autopsy. An investigation is underway, and Italian officials have been notified.

Gas and kerosene heaters are commonly used in Nepal during the winter because of shortage of electricity. These heaters are dangerous if used in closed rooms and can cause suffocation and poisoning.