The intrepid globe-trotting team of Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill have
survived their Antarctic Bell 407 crash.... the
following is the latest update on their recovery and the
circumstances surrounding their unfortunate, weather-related,
accident.
22 December 2003 - Update On The Progress Of Jennifer and
Colin
Helicopter pilots
Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill are in hospital in the Chilean
city of Punta Arenas recovering from Saturday’s accident on
the northern section of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
Colin has a fracture to the lumbar 1 vertebrae, which will
require an operation. He is in a stable and improving condition and
awaiting the necessary surgery, which is due to take place tomorrow
(Tuesday). His condition was treated as a back injury from the
start, so all necessary precautions were taken while he was
transported from the crash site to the mission’s Patriot
Hills base camp and then on to Punta Arenas.
The crash came one-third of the way through Jennifer and
Colin’s attempt to break a world record by flying around the
world pole to pole in a helicopter. The Polar First Challenge team
still intends to submit a claim for the speed record for flying
from New York to the South Pole in a helicopter.
Jennifer Murray said: “We set off in good flying
conditions from our base camp at Patriot Hills, but went into bad
weather faster than we expected. Antarctic weather is very
difficult to predict and changes rapidly.”
Jennifer, 63, who has
three children and four grandchildren, received treatment for a
dislocated elbow and is now comfortable and coming to terms with
what has happened. She also sustained broken ribs and remains in
hospital to recover from the trauma. She intends to stay with Colin
until he is fit enough to travel back to the UK.
Her son Justin is on his way to Punta Arenas from his home in
Korea and will be with Jennifer before Christmas. Jennifer spoke to
Justin’s daughters, nine-year-old Nicola and seven-year-old
Joanna, on the telephone this morning (Monday). “They said
thank you for their Christmas presents and that they hoped their
granny’s arm would get better soon,” said Jennifer.
Despite his condition, Colin was able to pull Jennifer out of
the wreckage when the helicopter came down, put the tent up, put
her into a sleeping bag and light the stove, before collapsing
himself. “When they found us, the emergency rescue team cut
the tent open to get us out,” explained Jennifer. “They
immediately put Colin on a board, as it was essential that he was
kept flat. They did a very professional job.”
The reaction to the emergency was a textbook case of search and
rescue on the part of Mike Sharp and his Antarctic Logistics and
Expeditions team at Patriot Hills that is supporting the Polar
First Challenge. The rescue took around 17 hours in total, which
was about as quick as it was physically possible to have been done.
Jennifer also paid tribute to Dr Martin Rhodes, who gave the pilots
medical assistance at the scene of the crash, and all the other
medical staff who have taken care of Jennifer and Colin since the
accident.
“If we hadn’t done everything by the book, paid for
search and rescue support and made detailed contingency plans we
wouldn’t have survived,” said Jennifer.
The rescue team pilots were very familiar with Antarctic
conditions and had experienced situations like this before. A Twin
Otter lifted Jennifer and Colin from the snow, an Ilyushin 76 TD
aircraft, which is about the same size as a DC10, negotiated the
“blue ice” landing strip at Patriot Hills in very
difficult conditions and flew Jennifer and Colin back to Chile.
The helicopter’s on-board Blue Sky Network flight-tracking
system provided Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions with the exact
co-ordinates of the helicopter within minutes of the crash.
The tracking system logged around 10,000 position reports
throughout the Polar First Challenge. It sends a position report
every 60 seconds when the helicopter is in flight and has an
emergency button that starts sending GPS positions every 15
seconds. It alerts a server and automatically pages or texts a
preset list of people that the emergency button has been pressed.
The unit continued to operate for another three hours on its
battery while Jennifer and Colin were on the ground at the crash
site. Jennifer also used an Iridium satellite phone to communicate
with the emergency team.
Jon Gilbert, president and chief executive of Blue Sky Network,
said: “I’m so pleased that Jennifer and Colin are OK.
The tracking system worked as it was designed to do and notified
people who could render emergency support. Jennifer and Colin did
an amazing thing in reaching the South Pole. They still deserve a
lot of credit for getting as far as they did.”