Plane Takes Off on Antarctic Rescue

Saturday, September 20, 2003

(5:39 PM ET) (21:39 GMT)

The Associated Press

The ill employee, whose name is being withheld at his request, is ambulatory but may need surgery. Raytheon has declined to confirm reports he is suffering from a bladder infection.

DENVER, Col. -- AP
After days of delays, a rescue flight headed to the South Pole on Saturday to pick up an ailing worker at the research station there.

Snow and wind had delayed the rescue attempt for five days while the rescuers awaited at British Rothera Air Station on Antarctica, 1,346 miles from the pole.

"It left at 6:48 a.m. Mountain time with estimated time of arrival 4:48 p.m.," said Valerie Carroll, spokeswoman for Raytheon Polar Services, the Centennial, Colorado-based company that manages the polar station.

"The plan is for a 10-hour flight, 10 hours of rest, then 10 hours back. But that is flexible," said Carroll. The employee will then be flown to the southern tip of Chile for the return flight to the United States.
(More: CNN.com World)

2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan