Extreme weather hampers rescue effort in Antarctica
Not much searchers can do to help find travellers until frigid conditions improve
CALGARY — Howling winds and heavy clouds are hampering search-and-rescue efforts for the three Canadians aboard an aircraft believed to have crashed in Antarctica.
Another aircraft from the Calgary-based airline Kenn Borek Air Ltd. is en route to the South Pole to help in the efforts, but searchers say there is not much they can do until weather conditions improve.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand is overseeing the operation to get to the site of where the Twin Otter went missing Wednesday.
Spokesman Michael Flyger said the plan is to set up a forward operating base 50 kilometres from the site so rescue planes can deploy quickly once it’s safe to do so.
Temperatures are “extremely cold” but the crew is experienced and well-prepared.
“You’d want to have the kind of stuff that these guys have got: survival suits, plenty of food and water for the next three, four, five days,” Flyger said.
“One of the things that we’re hoping to do once our forward operating base is stood up is hover and drop some equipment down to them which will include satellite phones and so on. Hopefully that will give us a much better idea of what their situation is,” he said.
Right now, there is no way of knowing if the missing Canadians are still alive.
Rescuers had hoped to make more progress Thursday.
“Although the weather is forecast to improve, we’re not seeing improvements at this stage,” said Flyger.
Kenn Borek Air did not provide updates Thursday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said commission officials in Wellington, New Zealand, are working closely with local authorities.
Search crews in Antarctica have located the spot where the emergency signal was coming from, but planes have not been able to spot the presumably downed aircraft.
The emergency signal is no longer detectable but searchers say that is to be expected. Since rescuers have the co-ordinates, the fact it has stopped transmitting is not a concern.
People who flew with the pilot, Bob Heath of Inuvik, N.W.T., said he was experienced and dedicated.
Kyle Thomas, a blogger in the Northwest Territories who documents his travels, was so moved by his July trip to Tuktoyaktuk, a small community on the Beaufort Sea, with Heath that he blogged about the experience, calling the man “a hidden gem of the north.”