Aurora Australis(Photo: ST, AFP/Getty Images)
A specially equipped plane from the U.S. Antarctic Program will fly to the rescue of 30 researchers trapped at an Australian<span style="color: Red;">*</span>station on the frozen continent after an icebreaker poised to bring them home ran aground in a blizzard.
By the way, it's summer in Antarctica. The average daily high temperature in February<span style="color: Red;">*</span>climbs to almost<span style="color: Red;">*</span>32 degrees. July's average high is a far less balmy 6 degrees.
The American plane, an LC130, is equipped with skis for ice landings. The plane will scoop up 30 expeditioners from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Davis research station, the most southerly of Antarctic<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stations, and deposit them at an airstrip-equipped station "in the coming days"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— presumably when the weather is more agreeable<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Australian Antarctica Division said
.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>From there a more conventional Airbus owned by the Australians<span style="color: Red;">*</span>can whisk them home.
Another 68 researchers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and crew members remain on the grounded Aurora Australia. The Aussies say the people are in good shape and the ship, although a bit battered,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>will sail when the weather clears.
USA TODAY
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"The capacity of the ship to complete its original voyage remains unknown, however the Australian Antarctic Division has a range of contingency plans in development," the division said in a statement.
Aurora Australis,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>aground in Horseshoe Harbour, has its own history of rescue. Two years ago, 52 scientists and tourists were retrieved from the stuck<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Russian research ship<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Akademik Shokalskiy<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and sailed to safety aboard the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Aurora Australis.
Americans were involved in that rescue, too:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was called in when the Chinese ship aiding the Russian ship also became mired in the unrelenting ice.
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