Antarctic base under control after researcher accused of assault, officials say
Johannesburg āĀ It sounds like the plot of a horror movie. Researchers stuck on a remote research base in Antarctica send an email out to the world, pleading for help as a colleague is accused of assault.
But this was real. An urgent email was sent by a researcher at South Africa’s isolated Sanae IV base in Antarctica accusing a man, one of the nine team members, of becoming violent and mentally unstable. In the email sent to a journalist at South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper, the researcher, who has not been identified publicly, requests immediate action to ensure the team’s safety.
According to the Times, the researcher alleged that the male team member had physically assaulted a colleague, threatened to kill a different colleague and sexually assaulted another. However, South African officials later said the report of a sexual assault was not correct.
“His behavior has become increasingly egregious, and I am experiencing significant difficulty in feeling secure in his presence,” the newspaper quoted the researcher as writing, adding: “It is imperative that immediate action is taken to ensure my safety and the safety of all employees.”
South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment released a statement saying the alleged assault at the base was reported on Feb. 27, triggering a response plan that saw the government agency use “trained professionals” to mediate. The department said those mediators continued to engage with the team at the base on “an almost daily basis.”
According to the agency, the alleged perpetrator had “willingly participated in further psychological evaluation, has shown remorse and is willingly cooperative to follow any interventions that are recommended.”
The statement went on to say the male perpetrator had written an apology to the victim and was willing “to verbally apologize to other team members.”
South African Environment Minister Dion George told CBS News on Tuesday that “the situation at the base remains calm and all is under control.”
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“I will be keeping close contact with the base to ensure it remains that way,” said George, adding that a “team of psychologists and other experts” were also in “direct and constant” contact with the team.Ā
When pressed on what else he could do to ensure the safety of the team, George said he was “considering available options.”
Those options may be few, as severe weather conditions have completely cut the base off from the sea. The base sits on stilts near a cliff edge – a row of buildings that the team will remain in until December, the heart of the Antarctic summer, when a ship is set to depart from South Africa to make the near-15-day journey to retrieve them.
An emergency evacuation, at significant cost, would be required to get the team out before then.
The environment department said it also activated a legal “labor relations process to investigate the [claim of] physical assault and alleged sexual harassment.”
There have been several incidents in the past with team members at the remote base threatening violence, and at least two other team members have been evacuated during previous expeditions.
The latest incident has fueled discussions about the reliability of the psychometric tests given to team members before they’re deployed to the isolated station. Scientists sent previously to the base and others like it have spoken of how lonely it is, surrounded by white and silence and cut off from the rest of the world, and of the toll that can take on someone’s mental health.
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