/ 1 January 2002

Last Russian scientists rescued from Antarctica

Two South African helicopters on Monday completed the evacuation of Russian scientists on board a German ship stranded in thick pack ice in the Antarctic, officials here said.

The rescue operation, which has seen 89 of the 107 people on board the ship lifted to safety by Puma helicopters from the Magdalena Oldendorff to a South African vessel, pulled the last 18 people off the ship during a brief window of good weather and daylight.

The rescue operation had been put on hold during the weekend when a cyclone forced the Agulhas rescue ship to move north into thinner ice, 526 kilometres away from the Oldendorff and out of safe flying distance.

Flying conditions are hazardous in the polar winter, with only five to six hours of daylight and freezing air temperatures — reaching minus 14,7 degrees C on Monday.

The Oldendorff has been trapped behind solid ice about 300 kilometres from the South African Antarctic base on Queen Maude Land since June 14.

The ship, protected in the Bay of Muskegbukta, is relatively safe from floating ice and moving icebergs.

The Argentinian ice-breaker Almirante Irizar is expected to arrive on July 7 to cut an escape route through the 60-centimeter thick blocks of ice. – AFP