The Royal New Zealand Air Force evacuated three people from a U.S. research base in Antarctica on Wednesday, conducting a rare and highly dangerous mission through volatile weather and 24-hour darkness to rescue the individuals.
The evacuation at McMurdo Station, the United States’ main outpost in Antarctica, was requested by the National Science Foundation after a staff member required urgent medical care and was unable to be treated there, the air force said in a statement. Two other people who needed medical care were also taken on the flight.
The station, which typically hosts around 200 people during the winter months, has a small medical staff on site, similar to an urgent care facility, the National Science Foundation said in a statement. The foundation is not equipped, however, to handle major emergencies. It did not provide details about the medical conditions that led to the evacuations.
On Tuesday afternoon, the air force sent a C-130J Hercules, a military transport aircraft, from Christchurch, New Zealand, to Antarctica. The crew, equipped with night vision goggles, flew about 2,400 miles, roughly the distance from Los Angeles to New York City, in difficult weather conditions and complete darkness, Andy Scott, an air commodore, said in the statement.
Scott said that evacuating people from Antarctica during the winter months is one of the most challenging missions the air force can undertake. Temperatures can drop to minus 90 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly minus 70 Celsius) in some locations, and violent storms can appear in a matter of minutes.
The journey is made even riskier because there is a point of no return, after which there are no airfields where the crew can divert the aircraft if something goes wrong, Scott said. The plane also needs to land in Antarctica on a runway made of ice, he added.
There are no regularly scheduled flights to Antarctica during most winter months, and flights are conducted only in emergencies.
Even then, Scott said, “these missions are not taken lightly.”
Researchers who’ve spent time on Antarctica say it can be a dangerous place, particularly in winter, when the weather can shift suddenly, and there is little, if any, daylight.
“Accidents always happen,” said Thomas Desvignes, an assistant professor of biology at University of Alabama at Birmingham, who has spent five winters conducting research at Palmer Station.
Even walking a few meters outdoors can be perilous when you are navigating icy terrain in blustery weather, he said. The psychological effects of extreme isolation and weeks of darkness can also take a toll, he said, comparing the experience to reality television shows like “Big Brother.”
There are moments, he said, when people suddenly say, “I need to leave.”
An evacuation, however, is likely to require a serious emergency.
“It has to be life-threatening because you’re threatening the lives of the people in the military planes that are coming down,” said Peter Doran, a professor of geology and geophysics at Louisiana State University who has conducted research in Antarctica for 28 years.
The evacuation plane landed at McMurdo Station on Tuesday, loaded up the evacuees and returned to Christchurch on Wednesday morning, making the round trip in just under 20 hours. The rescue was the third of its kind conducted by the air force since 2021, according to the U.S. embassy in New Zealand, which thanked the air force for its efforts.
The National Science Foundation said in a statement that its staff members arrived safely in New Zealand, where they received medical care, but did not give their current conditions.
Evacuating people from Antarctica can be a harrowing experience, but the rescues are also “heartwarming to witness,” Desvignes said.
They are moments when different countries come together “with the only purpose to save a life,” he said.
“It disrupts our scientific work in unfathomable ways, but it is an amazing thing to witness how people and countries can unite and work together when they need to,” he said.
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