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Disaster in Antartica

PostPosted: Sun Dec 21, 2003 3:35 am
by ozzy72
By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - A British grandmother's bid to make a record-setting pole to pole helicopter flight has ended with a crash landing in Antarctica in which she and her British co-pilot were injured. Jennifer Murray, 63, dislocated her arm in the crash 120 miles (193 kilometres) north of the Patriot Hills base and Colin Bodill suffered more severe but unspecified and non-life-threatening injuries. "They are both now in hospital in Chile for treatment. Jennifer did not break her arm, as previously thought, but dislocated it. Colin's injuries are still being assessed," a spokeswoman for the support team told Reuters on Saturday. The pair were rescued by a team from Patriot Hills and flown to Punta Arenas in Chile for treatment. The crash happened just four days after they arrived at the South Pole, about one third of the way through their planned 32,000 nautical mile aerial marathon. Murray briefly stopped off on Monday to visit her husband Simon, also 63, who is walking unsupported to the South Pole with intrepid fellow Briton Pen Hadow. Simon sent her a message of support from his blizzard-bound tent on the Antarctic ice where winds of 50 knots were keeping the walkers pinned down. "Jennifer is one of the most level-headed people I know and her inner strength comes to the fore in situations like this," he said by e-mail. "Of course, I would love to be at her side and give her a massive hug." Murray and Bodill left New York on October 20. Since then they had flown down the east coast of the United States, across the Caribbean and central Brazil and down the east coast of Argentina to the frigid south. They arrived at the South Pole on the centenary of the first powered flight by the Wright brothers. The next leg of the epic flight would have taken them 16,000 nautical miles up the west coast of Chile over Peru, Central America and the west coast of the United States and Canada, over Alaska to the Arctic and the North Pole where they were due to arrive on April 8. They had planned to finish the record-setting journey on April 15 after flying down the U.S. east coast back to New York. The main aim of the journey in a Bell 407 helicopter was to set the world record, with a subsidiary goal of raising awareness of conservation issues along the way. Murray set the world record for the fastest female solo helicopter flight round the world in 2000, covering the distance in just 99 days.

Re: Disaster in Antartica

PostPosted: Sun Dec 21, 2003 4:26 am
by ATI_7500
ouch... :(