Antarctic Adventure Takes Deadly Turn

Support crew, boat missing after storm
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 1, 2011 5:52 AM CST
Hopes Fade for Missing Antarctic Adventurers
Norwegian adventurer Jarle Andhoy has defended the expedition, saying he took all possible precautions to safeguard his crew.   (Getty Images)

Three members of an Antarctic expedition are missing and presumed dead and the two survivors will have some tough questions to answer when they return to their native Norway. The survivors were dropped off by a yacht and planned to ride quad bikes to the South Pole, but were forced back by one of the worst Antarctic storms in decades, the Daily Mail reports. They made their way to the US base at McMurdo Sound and were evacuated to New Zealand after discovering the yacht and its three crew members had vanished.

American and New Zealand authorities, as well as a boat from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, searched for the missing vessel but found nothing but an ice-covered lifeboat. Expedition leader Jarle Andhoey—who planned the South Pole trip to mark the centenary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's expedition—is being criticized for breaking safety protocols by setting out at the wrong time of the year and failing to gain permission from authorities, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. (Click for more from Antarctica.)

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