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.
Mr. 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, Mr. Scott said. The plane also needs to land in Antarctica on a runway made of ice, he added.
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