S.Atlantic : King George Island Crevasses Claim Three More Victims
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 02.10.2005 (Article Archived on 16.10.2005)

Luis Bahamonde Salazar reports about another tragic Antarctic incident.

KING GEORGE ISLAND CREVASSES CLAIM THREE MORE VICTIMS

By Luis Bahamonde Salazar (SARTMA)

Crevasses on King George Island just off the Antarctic Peninsula, have claimed another three people.  On Wednesday at 1400 LMT a seven-member Chilean Army team fell down a crevasse located 17 km from the Bernardo O’Higgins Base, while they were carrying out routine maintenance on recluse huts used during field exploration on the Island during the austral summer by scientists. 

They were aboard a heavy people carrier while travelling to one of the huts in the interior of the island when the vehicle fell into the crevasse.  Rescue teams found four of the Army personnel uninjured three others remained in the vehicle and could not be rescued from the 40-metre deep pit.  Subsequently they were found dead by rescue teams.  

This is the second such accident in two weeks on King George Island.  The first one happened to an Argentine Army team who fell into a crevasse on the Collins Glacier 8 km from the Frei Base.  A recovery effort is still on-going for all the missing men.

It is thought that global warming has weakened the snow bridges over crevasses in the area and that people doing research on King George Island need to take extra precautions when travelling on snowfields previously thought safe.

Source (LaPrenza Austral: Punta Arenas, Chile)