Risky South Pole rescue saves 2 sick workers from isolated research station
A rare wintertime rescue attempt at the South Pole has succeeded in bringing two sick workers for the National Science Foundation (NSF) away from the frigid pole and to the British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Research Base, which is located on the Antarctic Peninsula, about 1,500 miles north of the pole, the NSF announced on Wednesday.
The plane arrived at Rothera at about 1:15 p.m. EDT, the NSF said in a news release.
This was only the third-ever wintertime rescue attempt at the South Pole.
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Initially, the NSF aimed to rescue one sick worker, but a second sick worker was also present.
"NSF determined that, to mitigate risks, the team would use the opportunity to evacuate a second patient," the NSF said.
The 20-hour roundtrip flight from Rothera to the South Pole Station, where temperatures were close to minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit, was flown by a small de Havilland Twin Otter propellor plane.
This aircraft type is more tolerant of extreme cold than other more modern aircraft, and two of them had to be flown all the way down from Calgary for the rescue flight.
Few details have been released about the condition of the patients. Citing medical privacy, the NSF would not identify the sick workers or their conditions. They are both contractors working for Lockheed Martin Antarctic Support, which is the main support contractor to NSF for the U.S. Antarctic Program.
The plane eventually landed in Punta Arenas, Chile, at 9:41 p.m. EDT on Wednesday to bring the patients to a medical facility.
The plane took patients from
There are 48 people wintering at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, according to the NSF. It is one of three year-round facilities the agency operates on the continent.
The station pursues scientific projects such as monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide, conducting radio telescope observations and observing subatomic particles produced by black holes and other phenomena.
Normally planes don't go to the polar outpost from February to October because of the dangers of flying in the pitch-dark and cold.
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The first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere was Monday — the sun will not rise at the South Pole until the first day of spring in September.
The extreme cold affects a lot of components on planes, including fuel, which needs to be warmed before takeoff, batteries and hydraulics, according to an NSF spokesman.
Photos of the rescue showed the flight crew warming the aircraft's engines during refueling at the polar outpost.
"The air and Antarctica are unforgiving environments and punishes any slackness very hard," said Tim Stockings, operations director for the British Antarctic Survey. "If you are complacent it will bite you."
"Things can change very quickly down there" with ice from clouds, high winds and snow, he said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
