Trapped Antarctic scientists plead for rescue after ‘assault’

 Ten months from rescue and 2,500 miles from home, South African researchers have complained that one team member ‘threatened to kill’ a colleague.

It typically takes about two weeks to reach the Antarctic research station on a freezing clifftop some 2,500 miles from the southernmost tip of Africa. When the weather allows.

One group of scientists dispatched to the frozen continent to study its climate are now utterly alone for at least ten more months, as ice floes and extreme weather make getting in or out impossible.

Given their isolation, the email that arrived from the Sanae IV base last week caused immediate alarm.

An overwintering team at the Sanae base in 2014, who must stay at the base for months as travel is restricted

ALAMY

Members of the team, a researcher wrote, were living in fear not because of the hostile conditions, but because one of their number had attacked them. This person, the author added, was a threat to the entire team.

The message, shared with South Africa’s Sunday Times, pleaded for rescue. It said: “Regrettably, [his] behaviour has escalated to a point that is deeply disturbing. Specifically, he physically assaulted [name withheld], which is a grave violation of personal safety and workplace norms.”

Neither the author nor the person accused of wrongdoing have been named. The letter added: “Furthermore, he threatened to kill [name withheld], creating an environment of fear and intimidation. I remain deeply concerned about my own safety, constantly wondering if I might become the next victim.”

The team member was also accused of sexually assaulting another researcher. “His behaviour has become increasingly egregious, and I am experiencing significant difficulty in feeling secure in his presence,” the letter said. “It is imperative that immediate action is taken to ensure my safety and the safety of all employees.”

Extremely thick winter gear is vital in Antarctica, where the average temperature is minus 23C in the winter

The team is entirely cut off on a base where the average winter temperature is minus 23C and wind speeds can reach 135 mph.

Dion George, South Africa’s environment minister, said he would speak to team members “to assess for myself”.

He said: “There was a verbal altercation between the team leader and this person. Then it escalated and then that person did physically assault the leader. You can imagine what it’s like, it is close quarters and people do get cabin fever. It can be very disorientating.”

He added that researchers undergo pyschometric evaluation before they are sent to Antarctica because of the strenuous conditions in the remote, harsh landscape, which he likened to outer space.

Alan Chambers, a professional explorer who completed a 700-mile skiing expedition to the South Pole last year, said: “From a psychological perspective it’s a very very lonely place. There’s very little interaction with humans or animals so if you’re in a camp or a research centre you’re with those people for six months, if not a year.

“What I think it does, from a psychological point of view, is that everything becomes heightened. It’s all white — there’s no colour, no noise and nothing you would see as normal so everybody’s behaviour — including your own — gets magnified and the little things become the big things.

Alan Chambers skied 700 miles to the South Pole last year

“The loneliness of the continent has a huge impact on the behaviour of individuals. You really have to be happy with yourself because in the Arctic or the Antarctic you spend a lot of time inside your mind. So if you have a small issue with somebody or something, it can become magnified into a large problem.”

The team at the Sanae base includes experts in meteorology, medicine and engineering, according to the South African National Antarctic Programme, where they carry out climate monitoring, atmospheric studies and geological surveys. A photo of the “overwintering” team on the website shows a smiling bunch of South Africans as they’re about to set forth on their expedition.

The team of nine are living in orange modules that look a bit like shipping containers. They contain labs and offices, accommodation units, a library, a games room, TV rooms and a bar. They use diesel generators for heat and water is generated through a snow smelter. A satellite connection provides telephone lines.

The Times contacted several of the team members on Facebook. One, Alain Jacobs, a diesel mechanic , responded that he had no comment and asked not to be contacted again. Photos on his page show him gearing up for the Antarctic trip and cooking with some of his team mates.

The Facebook page of another team member, Geomarr van Tonder, an electronics engineer, shows stunning pictures taken from the base of the Aurora Australis.

“First glimpse of the Aurora Australis—one more bucket list item down, and what a way to tick it off! Now I’ve officially seen both the southern and northern lights. That’s right, I’m now a proud member of the ‘Both Hemispheres Aurora Appreciation Club.’ Next mission: convincing the Sun to throw in a solar storm for the full experience!” she says in the post.

In another Facebook post over the weekend she says herself and several teammates have had “a little adventure to Windscoop, just below Vesleskarvet, with the SANAE-IV base towering above. Just a few of us, some Heineken, and the endless Antarctic ice.”

Further back in her Facebook history, before the voyage to Antarctica, she’d posted photos of team cooking classes and emergency medical training.

“The thrill is real, and the adventure is calling!” she said in December. “Badass Team SANAE 64 is Ready to Roll!”

The first Sanae base was established in 1959. South Africa also formally administers two islands between the country and Antarctica, Prince Edward and Marion, where it has a research station. In 2017, an “unstable” team member on Marion Island was reported to have attacked a colleague in the kitchen with a frying pan and destroyed his room with an axe.

Over the winter, some 15 researchers live in close quarters for up to ten months

Chambers added: “The weather is so cold in winter that nobody is allowed to go outside of the research station — even just for fresh air. They are imprisoned by choice and so relationships and behaviours become really really important.

“So I’m not surprised that somebody is really struggling out there. If it’s at all possible, that person needs to be removed as soon as possible for their safety, the team’s safety and for the sake of any ongoing research.”

George said an initial investigation suggested the person mentioned in the email did not have immediate “dangerous intentions”. He said the ministry had spoken to counterparts in Norway and Germany “in the event that we need to do an urgent intervention”. Those countries have the closest bases to Sanae IV, the nearest one about 200 miles away.

Isolation can be beautiful — but only if you work as a team

Wintering in the Antarctic is a unique challenge. To be thrust together with a small group of individuals with widely differing skills and outlooks in the harshest of environments, completely isolated from the outside world, concentrates the mind beautifully — as I know from personal experience.

The cold is not the problem. It is the need to form an integrated team with people who in normal circumstances would not be friends, but whom you now must rely on for your comfort and safety.

A strong team is paramount, which for me, meant not forming close friendships or participating in splinter groups. The big lesson I learnt is to be a good team player but keep your intimate self to yourself, and question your own motives in disputes before you question those of others.

https://archive.ph/jjpoA#selection-1657.0-1941.109

Dr John Dudeney is former deputy director of the British Antarctic Survey and author of Footst