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MowCowWhoHow III

(2,103 posts)
Wed Jun 22, 2016, 03:43 PM Jun 2016

South Pole rescue flight of 2 workers finishes first leg

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — A small plane with two sick workers has arrived at a British research station in Antarctica, safely finishing the first leg in a daring rescue mission from a remote U.S. South Pole station, officials said.

National Science Foundation spokesman Peter West confirmed that the Twin Otter turboprop landed Wednesday afternoon at Rothera, a station on the Antarctic peninsula run by the British Antarctic Survey, after a 1,500-mile flight from the South Pole.

"It's all going according to plan," said British Antarctic Survey spokesman Paul Seagrove. The plane arrived around 1:30 p.m. EDT.

West said it's likely that the rescue team will rest and fly out Thursday. But a second small plane, also owned by a Canadian company, and its flight crew are available if the weather is good, the patients are up to it, and officials decide to fly to southern Chile, the closest and most likely spot for medical treatment, Seagrove said. "It's ready to fly them right off to Punta Arenas," Seagrove said. The flight to Chile takes about seven or eight hours, he said.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/455355799efd4a678b314f5257b2a9f8/rescue-flight-leaves-south-pole-evacuating-sick-us-worker



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elljay

(1,178 posts)
1. Went to a lecture by someone who has gone on a couple of Antarctica expeditions
Wed Jun 22, 2016, 04:49 PM
Jun 2016

The difficulties of getting there and travelling cannot be underestimated. The cold will kill you in a matter of minutes, the wind blows ice particles that can shred your skin, engines won't work, you have to bring in massive amounts of fuel to do things like melting your water and on and on. The best part of the lecture was hearing about the international cooperation of the different bases. If I remember it correctly, the Russians were prohibited from getting supplies that would allow them to make alcohol. They therefore grew cannabis and traded it with the other countries for alcohol. Who says we can't all get along?

elleng

(130,126 posts)
2. That's a good one about the Russians, elljay!
Wed Jun 22, 2016, 05:24 PM
Jun 2016

I can't imagine being in such a difficult place.

xocet

(3,870 posts)
3. Here is the South Pole webcam link along with weather information....
Wed Jun 22, 2016, 05:30 PM
Jun 2016

One can toggle between the dark sector camera and the station camera...

QED

(2,730 posts)
6. Dr. Jerri Nielsen was "trapped" at the South Pole and found she had breast cancer
Wed Jun 22, 2016, 07:26 PM
Jun 2016

This was in the dead of winter and there was no way of extracting her. She guided another person at the SP to do a biopsy and when it showed she had cancer, she treated herself with chemo. She wrote a book about it that was informative about life at the SP and her harrowing brush with cancer. She died in 2009.

http://www.imaginis.com/breast-health-news/doctor-with-breast-cancer-will-be-air-lifted-from-south-pole-dateline-october-6-1999

Her book:

https://smile.amazon.com/Ice-Bound-Doctors-Incredible-Survival/dp/0786886994/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466637964&sr=8-1&keywords=jerri+nielsen

Eugene

(61,592 posts)
7. South Pole Rescue Flight of 2 Sick Workers Leaves Antarctica
Wed Jun 22, 2016, 07:31 PM
Jun 2016

Source: Associated Press

South Pole Rescue Flight of 2 Sick Workers Leaves Antarctica

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP SCIENCE WRITER WASHINGTON — Jun 22, 2016, 6:41 PM ET

A small plane with two sick U.S. workers left Antarctica on Wednesday in a daring rescue mission from a remote South Pole research station, officials said.

After making a stop for a few hours at a British station on the edge of Antarctica, the two workers flew to Chile, where they were expected to arrive for medical care Wednesday evening, said British Antarctic Survey spokeswoman Athena Dinar.

In a hectic two days of flying, the rescue team flew 3,000 miles roundtrip from the British station Rothera to pick up the workers at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole. They arrived back at Rothera on Wednesday afternoon, said Peter West, spokesman for the National Science Foundation, which runs the U.S. station.

Then the two workers boarded a second Canadian-owned Twin Otter plane that took off for Punta Arenas in southern Chile, Dinar said.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/rescue-flight-leaves-south-pole-evacuating-sick-us-40038380
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