Hope fades for South Pole adventurers

AFP - 

A Norwegian expedition to the South Pole had likely been hit by tragedy, with hopes of finding the party's yacht with three sailors onboard slim, a New Zealand official said Monday.

The Berserk has not been heard from since it was hit by a ferocious storm in the Ross Sea off Antarctica almost a week ago and sea and air searches have only found the boat's damaged and ice-encrusted liferaft.

Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said the storm had been described as the biggest to hit the area in the last 20 years, packing winds of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour.

"It was quite incredible," he told Radio New Zealand. "Obviously they sustained damage. I just don't think there is any hope."

The Berserk had arrived on its reportedly unauthorised mission in Antarctica on February 11, and had left two Norwegian explorers near the New Zealand and US bases to begin a quad bike journey to the South Pole.

Sanson said the issue of the safety of the expedition had been raised.

"A number of both US (officials) and ourselves had said... at this time of year we close the bases for a very good reason -- because the temperatures are plummeting," he said.

"It's minus 20 (Celsius, minus four Fahrenheit) there today, on the polar plateau it's minus 34 and (with a) wind chill of up to minus 60. And these guys had a 1,600 kilometre quad bike trip to the South Pole at one of the coldest times of the year and when we do get these big storms."

He said the two men had abandoned the South Pole quest and had returned on their bikes to the New Zealand Scott Base after learning the yacht was missing and arrived in the quake-hit New Zealand city of Christchurch on Monday.

Read more...

Posted via http://batavia08.posterous.com batavia08's posterous