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Rescuers are on a daring mission to save two people stranded at a South Pole research station

Only hours ago, a Canadian plane landed at Rothera, a British Antarctic Survey Station on the Antarctic Peninsula, after picking up two people working at a South Pole scientific station who urgently need medical help.
Un avion Twin Otter s'envole du pôle Sud lors d'une mission de sauvetage en 2003. (Photo de Jason Medley, NSF)

Two Canadian planes are in the middle of a risky rescue mission to Antarctica, with only snow to land on and moonlight to fly by, to rescue two staff from a scientific station at the bottom of the world.

Only hours ago, a single plane landed at Rothera, a British Antarctic Survey Station on the Antarctic Peninsula, after picking up two crew members from the South Pole who urgently need medical help.

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The National Science Foundation that operates at the South Pole station wouldn't say who the staff were or what their medical emergencies are, but said the mission has been a success so far and the crew are on their way to receiving help. NSF spokesperson Peter West told VICE News the station consulted with medical professionals and deemed the cases serious enough that they should be evacuated rather than stay at the station, where there is a doctor and a physician's assistant.

"It was felt that the level of care at the station was not adequate to treat the patients," said West.

It's the middle of the Antarctic winter and normally planes don't fly to the South Pole at this time of year.

The station called on Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air, which has completed two previous rescue missions to the South Pole station, one in 2001 and the other in 2003. Kenn Borek, which has the moto "Anywhere, Anytime, Worldwide," provided two Twin Otter planes that fly at extremely cold temperatures and can land on skis. The fuel in these planes has to be warmed up before they can fly.

A scientist enjoys the winter cold and darkness outside the IceCube Lab at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The green glow is the aurora australis. Above that is the Milky Way Galaxy. (Photo by Photo by Sven Lidstrom)

On June 14, the two planes left Calgary on the "highly-weather dependent" intercontinental mission.

On June 20, the two planes landed in Rothera, where they were suited up with skis so they could land on the snow. From there, just one plane took off on June 21 to the South Pole in near-darkness, while the other stayed as back-up.

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Along the 2,500 kilometer, 10-hour flight, the single plane faced a point of no return: With only enough fuel for a one-way trip, the pilot had to make a decision around the five hour mark to either continue on and land the plane, or turn back — leaving the patients waiting longer for help.

The pilot and co-pilot decided to carry on and the plane was able to land on a skiway at the pole, lit by burning beacons, West said.

Forty-eight people live and work at the station — 39 men and nine women — not including the two who were rescued.

The two evacuated crew were support staff, employed by Lockheed Martin Antarctic Support Contract, which provides food, IT, construction and maintenance, medical and other services to the station. West wouldn't say where they were receiving medical attention, citing medical privacy.

According to Lockheed Martin's Antarctic jobs site, all candidates must pass "strict physical and dental examinations, a psychological examination for winter positions, a pre-employment background check [and] a drug screen," in order to work there.

While some crew at the South Pole station are there to maintain it, others are carrying out scientific research on climate change, black holes, dark energy and dark matter, and the early history of the universe.

Photo by Bill Henriksen, National Science Foundation

The station is home to two radio telescopes "which are using the Cosmic Microwave Background to investigate the early history of the universe, including investigations of dark energy and dark matter that makes up most of the cosmos," according to the NSF. And there's the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory, "which is designed to observe subatomic particles, produced by some of the most violent and exotic cosmic phenomena, including black holes."

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2001 was the first time a plane was ever sent on a rescue mission to the South Pole in the middle of the Antarctic winter, and the same Calgary company carried out the mission.

On that mission, a plane evacuated 59-year-old American doctor Ronald Shemenski, who had pancreatitis, which can be life-threatening, and in his case, required surgery.

"What was pointed out to me, I had the right to take my own chances, but I did not have the right to take the chance and leave 49 people without a doctor down there for the winter," Shemenski told CTV news. "I'm the only physician and there's nobody to back me up. And that was the decision to take me out. I didn't agree with it, but that was the decision."

On that mission, US Military Hercules cargo planes initially received the call, but it was too cold down there for them, which is why the Canadian planes were called in. In that case, South Pole crews built a packed-snow landing strip and burned barrels of debris coated in gasoline to light the way.

Today's flight to the South Pole was later in the year than the 2001 flight, West said, so conditions were even colder and darker for the pilots.

Photo by Bill Spindler, US Antarctic Program, National Science Foundation

Follow Hilary Beaumont on Twitter: @hilarybeaumont