The RSV Nuyina (left) traveled more than 1,800 miles to rescue a sick explorer at Australia’s Casey Research Center in Antarctica (right).
Courtesy of Pete Harmsen/AAD and Nisha Harris/AAD
The Australian Antarctic Research Agency rescued a sick explorer from a research site this month.
The research and supply vessel Noina traveled more than 2,800 miles to reach the site.
Two helicopters were mobilized from the ship’s deck to rescue the sick researcher.
The Australian Antarctic Research Agency launched a daring rescue mission this month after one of its Antarctic expedition members needed urgent medical attention while at a remote research station 3,800 kilometers south of Perth.
Last week, Australian Antarctic Program RSV Nuyina, a modern research and supply ship, was used to travel more than 1,800 miles between the ship’s base in Hobart, Tasmania, and the Casey Research Center located on a large ship. The Antarctic ice cap, an agency spokesperson told Insider.
The rescue operation came as the Southern Hemisphere witnessed the beginning of spring, with temperatures reaching around 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
“This is the first time we have visited an Antarctic station, just a day or two after the official end of winter,” said Rob Clifton, acting general manager of operations and logistics for the Australian Antarctic Division. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “But the winters are still long in Antarctica.”
The Casey Research Station port, which is Australia’s closest permanent station to Antarctica, only houses about 20 people during the winter, the outlet reported.
An agency spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Insider that one of the station’s customers suffered from a “sophisticated medical condition” that required specialist care in Australia.
The agency sent the Hobart noina to Casey last week, using… Half a billion dollars A ship to cut miles of deep sea ice. The ship managed to reach a location about 78 nautical miles from Casey on Sunday, the agency said.
As soon as the Noina approached the search site, two helicopters carrying a medical rescue team were sent from the ship’s deck. It took nearly an hour of flight time to reach Casey and rescue the ailing explorer, according to the Australian Antarctic Program.
Clifton said it was the good weather that allowed the two planes to make the final leg of the flight.
“The first phase of the evacuation was completed safely and successfully and the ship is now on its way back to Hobart,” said Clifton.
Map showing the distance traveled by the Nuyina tribe between the Hobart Research Center and Casey.
Courtesy of AAD
The agency declined to provide details on the evacuees’ current health status, but Clifton said they would be seen at the medical center in Noina, staffed by polar medicine doctors and hospital medical staff, for the return flight to Hobart.
An agency spokesman said the Nuyena is scheduled to return to Hobart next week, depending on weather conditions in the Southern Ocean. The icebreaker, which cost $528 million to design and build, according to the Australian government, was introduced in 2021 to carry out scientific missions and transport researchers and supplies to Antarctica.
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