Soviet Ship to Pick Up Woman Off S.D. Today

The Soviet woman who was airlifted from a fishing trawler when she suffered a miscarriage at sea will be taking a launch back to her ship this morning, several hours after the trawler arrives outside San Diego Harbor.

Svetlana Alexandrovna Prokudina, who was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital Tuesday, was originally scheduled to return to the trawler Gnevnyy Thursday night.

But the ship, which was 336 miles south of San Diego Wednesday, did not arrive in time to make the connection, according to Scripps communications director Michael Bardin. He said the trawler was expected to reach the designated meeting spot 4.6 nautical miles off Point Loma just after midnight.

With the new arrival time, the 26-year-old Prokudina, who prepares and serves food in the officer’s mess on the ship, was scheduled to board the private launch at 8:30 a.m.

“She is scheduled to rendezvous with her ship at 9:30 a.m, just a few miles outside the harbor,” Bardin said.

Bardin said Prokudina was disappointed when she was told of the postponement. “She is anxious. She was certainly not happy.

“Normally someone who is not a vital officer on the ship doesn’t necessarily get to go back if something has happened. But she did want to go back. She persuaded them to let her.

“She said the last thing her captain told her was, let us know when you’re ready, and we will come get you. She held him to that.”

Initially, officials at the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco were arranging to fly Prokudina back to the Soviet Union. When she balked, officials at the Soviet Embassy in Washington agreed to order the ship to return to San Diego.

Despite her disappointment over the delay, Bardin said, Prokudina was dining Thursday night at an undisclosed location with Rob Cheron, an assistant director of personnel at the hospital who is fluent in Russian.