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American Morning

Shemenski Prepares to Head for Punta Arenas

Aired April 26, 2001 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: First we're going to go to coastal Antarctica where the story is this morning, a plane preparing there to take off this hour for Chile. Onboard that plane, Dr. Ron Shemenski. He is the physician who was airlifted from the South Pole yesterday.

Pilots picked him up at Amundsen-Scott research station there, flying eight hours to another base on the Antarctic Peninsula. The next leg of the trip is going to take him to Punta Arenas where our Gary Tuchman is standing by on the phone right now. Actually, we have Gary on the videophone. Gary is back on our world famous videophone right now -- Gary, what's new?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, how are you doing? Hope all is well there in Atlanta.

Here in Punta Arenas, though, many people are very excited awaiting the arrival of ailing doctor. This is the southernmost commercial airport in the world. And if all goes well, he will arrive here later this afternoon. So far so good for a most noble rescue mission.

Dr. Ronald Shemenski lived on the South Pole for six months. He was supposed to be there for a year, but he took sick. He had a gallbladder attack. He came down with a condition called pancreatitis.

So he was evacuated from the South Pole by Canadian rescuers yesterday in a very small plane equipped with skis for takeoffs and landings from the South Pole station. An eight-hour flight to the British Rothera station, that's where they spent the night last night.

We can't tell you if that station is north, south, east, or west or the U.S. South Pole station because there's no such thing as those types of directions on the South Pole because after all, South America is north of the South Pole. On the other side, New Zealand north of the South Pole. But we can tell you the British station on the part of the South Pole closer to South America.

At this minute, the plane is scheduled to take off from that British station, coming here to the Patagonia region of Chile. We expect a 4:30 Eastern time arrival of that ailing doctor. When he gets here, we expect him to talk to us, hold a news conference later tonight. He is said to be in satisfactory condition. This is the type of problem that could have serious repercussions if he stayed in the South Pole and no plane was able to rescue him for the next several months during the polar winter. That's why they're taking him out.

He will be here for one or two days in Chile. He will then fly to Colorado, where he lives and works, where he will enter a hospital this weekend for medical treatment there. But so far, everything is looking good for this very courageous rescue mission. Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Gary. And, Gary, as you were reporting just then, I was just now told that we are going to try to get live coverage right here of the landing of that plane there in Chile. So stay with us, folks. We expect to have that. And we're working on that. So don't go away.

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