AAP
Metropolis Desk-
Australia has started an urgent effort to extract a researcher from the isolated Casey base in Antarctica who has a “developing medical condition.”
The Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) reported that the icebreaker RSV Nuyina departed from Tasmania last week.
After an air rescue was ruled off due to adverse weather, it is traveling hundreds of miles to reach the station. The Australian researcher, according to the AAP, needs specialized care but did not specify what it is.
According to the program, preparing the Nuyina for the mission took weeks, including outfitting it with helicopters.
One of the three permanent Antarctic stations managed by the AAP, Casey research station is located 2,139 miles (3,443 km) from Hobart in Tasmania.
The Nuyina, whose construction cost A$528 million ($342 million; £271 million), has a top speed of 16 knots, or around 18 miles per hour, which entails a journey taking many days. Since the adjacent Wilkins airport in Casey has an ice runway and is frequently impassable during the hard winter, it is known that a helicopter evacuation was not an option.
Reports state that using the runway would require weeks of preparation, therefore sending the icebreaker is far more expedient.
Only approximately 20 people reside on the research station, which has few medical facilities and is where the toughest conditions occur during the winter.
The “wellbeing of our people is our highest priority,” an AAP official told the BBC. “The family of the expeditioner is being fully informed of the situation,” it continued. “All other station personnel are present and safe,” was stated.
Australia mandates that all scientists going to Antarctica go through extensive medical testing before to departure. International partners may be needed to help in evacuations from one of the world’s most hostile regions because they are frequently difficult, costly, dangerous, and risky.
In order to evacuate an expeditioner in December 2020, Australia needs assistance from the US and China.
A sick American was evacuated from McMurdo station using an Australian Airbus A319 earlier in the same year.
Source- BBC News
