Science & Technology

Daring Antarctic rescue covers 3,000 miles

By T.K. Randall
June 22, 2016 ·  1 comment

Antarctica is a very challenging place to live and work. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Tom L-C If there's one place you don't want to be in the event of a medical emergency it's Antarctica - a continent twice the size of Australia where temperatures can easily drop to less than -60C.

This however was the scenario that arose recently when a worker at the remote National Science Foundation outpost took ill and needed to be evacuated by plane at a time of the year when flights are generally grounded due to low temperatures and a six-month period of unending darkness.

The brave crew of a Twin Otter rescue plane made the daring trip from Rothera - a British base in the Antarctic peninsula - to the NSF outpost, a journey of over 1,500 miles.The aircraft will now have to wait to be refuelled before it can attempt the 9-hour return trip.

"The air and Antarctica are unforgiving environments and punish any slackness very hard," said British Antarctic Survey operations director Tim Stockings.

"If you are complacent it will bite you. Things can change very quickly down there."

Source: Sky News | Comments (1)

Tags: Antarctica