Scientists at the base of Antarctic Sanae IV rocked by the alleged attack

Normally, the expeditions take place without incident, despite the provocative conditions.

Sunday, Sunday, South -African Sudy Times reported that a team member has sent a warning about E -mail about “a deeply disturbing behavior” by a colleague.

A spokesman for the South -African government told the BBC that the alleged attack was triggered by “a dispute for a task that the team leader wanted to do -a time dependent task that required a change of the program.”

The incidents in Antarctica are rare, but they are not unprecedented. In 2018, there were reports about a stabbed at the Bellingshausen research station, operated by the Russian.

Psychologists indicate the effect that isolation can have on human behavior.

“One thing we know from these rare events, when something bad happens in forced isolation or capsule, is that often small things, the tiny things that can explode in the conflict,” said Craig Jackson, professor of health psychology at the Birmingham City University.

“So, problems about the hierarchy, the allocation of work volume, even small things about leisure or rations or food portions can be fast to become something much higher than they are usually,” he told the BBC.