Rescue mission launched for emergency evacuation of ill South Pole worker

Science : Each February, researchers working at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station return home, leaving just a few dozen people on site for the Antarctic winter. On 14 June a pair of planes left Canada on a six-day trip to the research station to evacuate a crew member suffering from an unspecified medical emergency that requires hospitalization. Most medical problems are handled on site with help from doctors via remote camera feeds. The research station does not have a paved landing strip, so planes are required to land in the dark, on compacted snow, with landing skis instead of wheels. And the planes themselves have to be capable of operating in extreme cold. The two planes are propeller-driven Twin Otter aircraft that are used to transport researchers to Arctic research stations. One will land at the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula and stay there as backup; the other will continue the additional 2400 km to the South Pole.