A Twin Otter plane, operated by the Canadian crew of three men was en route from South Pole station to the Italian base in Terra Nova bay, when an emergency beacon got activated. They encountered bad weather when flying over the mountains and their last known location was at ~13000 feet above sea level. It happened late on Wednesday, January 23.
For the next five days all of us were anxiously waiting for the search and rescue (SAR) team to get to the site and praying for the best. Every plane in Antartica carries "survival bags" with food, fuel, sleeping bags and tents - enough for the crew to last for 3-5 days in the cold weather. We were all hoping that the crew managed to survive the crash and will last for several days till the SAR team comes. The weather was really bad for quite a few days, preventing the SAR planes on obtaining a visual on the last recorded coordinates of the plane. On Saturday night a visual was obtained. The crash scene was brutal and the accident was presumed unsurvivable. Due to avalanche risk and crevasses in the area the SAR team on the ground was not able to get to the front of the plane and recover the crew members from the crash site.
Our thoughts and prayers go to friends and families of Bob Heath, Mike Denton and Perry Andersen.
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