Scientists at the Antarctic base was shaken by the alleged attack

A group of scientists who work together for months at a remote Antarctic research station was shaken after a team member was charged.

About 10 researchers are usually at the South African base, which is about 170 km (about 105 miles) on the edge of the ice shelf and is difficult to reach.

But a spokesman for the South -African government told the BBC “that there was an attack” at the station, following previous accusations of improper behavior inside the camp.

In an additional message seen by the BBC, the Ministry of the Environment of South Africa said that it is responsible for “the greatest emergency”.

Sunday Times in South Africa, who first reported the story, said the team members pleaded to be saved.

The ministry also said that the teams were subjected “a series of evaluations that include substantive checks, reference checks, medical evaluation, as well as a psychometric evaluation by qualified professionals”, which all members have eliminated.

The SMAEE IV research base is located more than 4,000 km from continental South Africa, and the harsh weather conditions mean that scientists can be cut there for much of the year.

The current team was expected to be at the base of Sanae IV until December.

The research expeditions from South Africa have been held since 1959. The team at the base of Sanae IV usually includes a doctor, two mechanics, three engineers, a meteorological technician and a couple of doctors.

These expeditions, with harsh weather conditions that require a lot of time spent in a limited interior space, normally unfolds, and the team members must suffer a series of psychological evaluations before traveling.

On Sunday, Sunday Times in South Africa reported that a team member has sent an E -mail warning about “deeply disturbing behavior” by a colleague and “environment of fear”.

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 the small things, the tiny things that can explode in the conflict,” said Craig Jackson, professor of health psychology at the Birmingham City University and an authorized member of the British psychological society.

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

Gabrielle Walker, a scientist and author who was on expeditions in Antarctica, said that she was working in such a large close to a small group of colleagues that she had risks.

“You know exactly how they put the coffee cup and in what direction the handle indicates;

“And in the bad circumstances, it can start to irritate you … Because there is nothing else – there is no other stimulus and you are with people 24/7,” she said.

Sources within the Antarctica research community have told the BBC that South Africa has access to a ship and ice -capable aircraft.

But any rescue operation should face the hard climate, with temperatures well below frost and the possibility of strong winds.

By Mark Poynting and Justin Rowlatt

Additional reports by ED Habershon and Miho Tanaka

Source: BBC