Polar rescue mission ends safely

The last leg was a six-hour flight from Rothera to southern Chile

A twin-engine propeller plane has carried a sick American doctor out of Antarctica, winging him to safety in Chile from the South Pole research station where he was stricken with a gall bladder ailment.

If I get this medical condition taken care of, I'm hoping to go back next winter.

Dr Shemenski

The eight-seat Twin Otter plane touched down in Punta Arenas on the southernmost tip of Chile after a six-hour flight from Rothera base on Antarctica's Adelaide island.

Dr Shemenski said that he never worried once about the flight, saying "these pilots were good" and that he had rested on a makeshift bed atop a "couple of 55-gallon fuel drums."

Speaking after the rescue Dr Shemenski said that he was fine, and that he would have preferred to tough it out at the pole.

Dangerous to stay

"I didn't want the crew to risk coming down there," he said.

But the doctor, who was suffering from potentially fatal pancreatitis, later acknowledged that it would have been dangerous to stay on and face another flare-up of his illness.

"The main thing was the risk of this happening again," he said. "If it had happened again, maybe it won't pass and it could be very serious."

He will be sent straight to the United States for urgent medical treatment.

Worsening weather

Rescuers decided to chance the perilous evacuation because of fears that Dr Shemenski's health could deteriorate after worse weather made the South Pole unreachable.

The rescue came at the start of the long, dark polar winter

"It's great to have them home," said a jubilant Tom Yelvington, general manager at Raytheon Polar Services, the US-based company heading the rescue effort.

Noting that Dr Shemenski's illness was potentially life-threatening, he added: "There's no greater reason to go in than that."

Huge risks

The airlift was one of the riskiest efforts ever by a small plane to the South Pole, with the rescue team braving snow, cold of minus 68 degrees, high winds and darkness at the beginning of the long polar winter.

Weather makes any flights to the station extremely hazardous from late February until November.

Pilot Sean Loutitt said he, co-pilot Mark Cary and flight engineer Norm Wong had encountered no problems on the trip, aside from the extreme cold.

Dr Shemenski will now travel to Colorado for treatment

They said the ride was surprisingly smooth.

"I though it was safe, and I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think that," Mr Loutitt said.

Dr Shemenski was the only physician among 50 researchers working at the base, and his replacement was brought in by his rescuers.

The experience has not managed to deter Dr Shemenski though, who is keen to return to the Antarctic after his medical treatment in Colorado.

"If I get this medical condition taken care of, I'm hoping to go back next winter," he said.

Dr Shemenski's was the second dramatic rescue in the Antarctic this week.

On Tuesday, a plane evacuated 11 American staffers from McMurdo Base on the Antarctic coast across from New Zealand.