Romain Rouillard with AFP / Photo credit: PHOTOSTOCK-ISRAEL / SCIENCE PHOTO / PSI / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY VIA AFP
The RSV Nuyina, an Australian icebreaker 160 meters long, traveled 3,000 km to help a researcher at the isolated Casey base in Antarctica. The latter will now have to be brought back to Tasmania, in the south of Australia and undergo specialized care.
It is a large-scale operation which was launched on Monday in the frozen landscapes of Antarctica. In order to rescue a researcher in distress at the isolated base of Casey, an Australian icebreaker, baptized RSV Nuyina, had to travel more than 3,000 km in the middle of the pack ice. Leaving from Hobart, in Tasmania, the 160-meter long boat could only approach 144 km from the base in question. A helicopter was then deployed to assist the scientist, the Australian Antarctic Department said in a statement.
Australia launched an urgent operation to rescue a researcher w/a “developing medical condition” fm the remote Casey outpost in Antarctica.
Icebreaker RSV Nuyina left fm Tasmania last week to travel thousands of miles to reach the station after harsh weather ruled out air rescue pic.twitter.com/c3sMwGQ54m—Rita Rosenfeld (@rheytah) September 2, 2023
“The first phase of the operation was a success. The ship is now on its way back to Hobart,” said Robb Clifton, the Department’s general manager of operations and logistics. It is expected to land in the port of Tasmania sometime next week. The researcher will have to receive treatment and undergo various medical examinations, due to a “developing health problem”.
A widely anticipated operation
In a press release seen by the Australian media ABC, the Australian Antarctic Program indicates that this operation had been in preparation for several weeks. “The ship has been prepared over the past few weeks, including the loading of helicopters for evacuation,” the news site reports.
The Casey base, located nearly 4,000 km south of Perth, is the closest permanent Antarctic station to Australia, ABC said. In the middle of the austral winter – the season currently in force in this part of the globe – only 16 to 20 people are on site, due to the low scientific activity and the difficult conditions. A figure which can, on the other hand, climb to 160 expeditionaries during the summer. In most cases, this type of medical evacuation depends on international aid, recalls the Guardian. For the moment, no information has been disclosed on this subject.