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Rescue plane reaches South Pole
©Associated Press © St. Petersburg Times, published April 25, 2001 PUNTA ARENAS, Chile -- A small propeller plane fitted with skis landed safely Tuesday night at the South Pole, completing the first part of a dangerous mission to rescue an ailing American doctor. Flying through the pitch black of the polar winter, the eight-seat Twin Otter concluded its 10-hour flight from Rothera station on the antarctic peninsula to Amundsen Scott-South Pole station at 8:02 p.m. EDT. The rescue team included two pilots, an engineer, a nurse and a replacement physician for the polar station. The plane arrived in bone-chilling darkness using a sheet of ice as a runway. With no tower to guide the landing, barrels of flaming debris were set up to light the way. "They landed safely and without any problems," said Valerie Carroll, a spokeswoman for Raytheon Polar Services, an American company that employs South Pole researchers. She said that the plane's crew would remain at the pole for 10 hours to rest, refuel and assess Dr. Ronald S. Shemenski's condition. They were expected to fly out early this morning. Even though the howling winds and blinding snow had eased, temperatures at the South Pole dipped to 68 degrees below zero, much colder with wind chill. It was the second dramatic rescue attempt in 24 hours. Earlier Tuesday, a New Zealand air force plane successfully evacuated 11 American staffers from a research station on the other side of the frozen continent. Flights to the South Pole are normally halted from late February until November because of the extreme cold and darkness. But health emergencies at the isolated, frigid antarctic outposts forced rescuers in both operations to make the dangerous flights. The Twin Otter departed from Rothera at 10:34 a.m. EDT to retrieve Shemenski. The plane and a companion aircraft had arrived at Rothera from Punta Arenas, Chile, late last week. Blowing snow and low visibility postponed the flight by two days, but clear skies and improved conditions at the pole allowed the departure Tuesday, Carroll said. The only physician among 50 researchers working at the polar station, the 59-year-old Shemenski recently suffered a gall bladder attack and has been diagnosed with pancreatitis, a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas. Dr. Gerald Katz, Shemenski's physician in Englewood, Colo., said Shemenski needs surgery and that authorities wanted to evacuate him before harsher winter weather set it, making a future rescue impossible. "There's no doubt that the proper treatment for him is not available at the South Pole," Katz said. "In this case, most people would have considered treatment within three weeks after the condition was diagnosed." A successful rescue would mark the second time in two years that a doctor has been plucked from the pole in a medical emergency. In October 1999, Dr. Jerri Nielsen -- then the only physician at the Amundsen Scott-South Pole station -- was evacuated after she discovered a breast tumor that was diagnosed as cancerous. On the opposite coast from the Rothera base Tuesday, rescuers evacuated four ill Americans at McMurdo Antarctic Base. In a 15-hour round-trip journey from Christchurch, New Zealand, a C130 Hercules landed on McMurdo's ice runway, spending just one hour on the ground to pick up the evacuees and refuel. Engines were kept running to prevent them freezing in the 22-below-zero air. "The weather was a little bit iffy ... but we managed a quick change down on the ice," said pilot Nathan McDonald. The sick Americans were joined on the flight by seven other U.S. staffers, who authorities said were returning because of "family emergencies." Two of the evacuees were suffering from "critical conditions," government research group Antarctica New Zealand said. The two were taken to a hospital in Christchurch, where their conditions were stable Tuesday night, the statement said.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
