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Antarctic mishaps

dwane.jpgRecently, Dwayne Rooke, the chef at the Davis Station science base in Antarctica, was seriously injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident and had to be evacuated to Tasmania. This was no mean feat.

A ski-eqipped LC-130 Hercules transport plane was dispatched from McMurdo station, which is across the continent and now experiencing nasty spring weather. A temporary sea ice runway was prepared at Davis station for the rescue and penguins were kept off of it. The day after the plane arrived at Davis, it left again for Tasmania (NSF press release, Australian Antarctic Division press release, article from The Age).

When Werner Herzog went to Antarctica to make Encounters at the End of the World he was a bit disappointed at how mundane life at the bottom of the world seemed. Stations are often dirty and scruffy. But science at the end of the world has not yet become a tame affair.


Dwayne02.JPGThis is the second evacuation from the continent this spring.

Joining an expedition as a scientist or chef means ticking off items on a long pre-departure list, including a special medical exam and, naturally, the writing of a will. Once down on the continent, everyone must donate blood so that there will be an emergency supply if something goes awry.

Preemptive removal of wisdom teeth and appendixes seems no longer to be required but consider this from Australian Expeditioner’s handbook: “Antarctic and subantarctic wildlife carry a number of parasites and infectious diseases which can infect humans including ticks, fleas, mites, lice, worms, viruses and bacteria.”

Though problems with these are apparently rare, other dangers include sunburn, snow blindness, altitude sickness, hypothermia and accidents like the one that befell Rooke.

As the US Antarctic Program Participant Guide puts it, “Antarctica is as cold, and as indifferent to one’s presence, as it was when Robert F. Scott was there.”

Previous misadventures at the bottom of the world resulted in knee surgery on a meteorologist conducted with the long-distance help of two Boston surgeons; an auto-biopsy for breast cancer, and the sinking of an Antarctic cruise liner (all aboard were rescued).

And finally, who could forget the dramatic December 2007 evacuation from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station after a man had his jaw broken in a “drunken Christmas punch-up“?

Image top: lifting off from Davis station with Rooke on board / Bob Paton

Image lower: Dwayne Rooke

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