Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs South African authorities have put a crew member of a remote research team at the South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) IV base in Antarctica under psychological evaluation after reports of his violent behaviour emerged, including physical assault and sexual harassment of his teammates.
Reports of assault were first reported last weekend by South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper, which claimed to have seen a distress email sent by a crew member to government officials. That person pleaded for rescue and said the violent staff member had made death threats.
Officials said psychological counsellors have since “constantly” intervened remotely and that the accused crew member is being “cooperative”.
Here’s what we know about the incident and the research work being done at the SANAE IV base.
What happened?
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times reported that a “real-life horror movie” was playing out on the isolated Antarctica base that houses a nine-man crew.
The newspaper reported it had seen an email sent from a team member to South Africa’s Ministry of Environment, which oversees research missions. In the email, the team member alleged that another crew member, whose name was not disclosed by the Sunday Times, had attacked the base’s leader and made a death threat.
“His behaviour has escalated to a point that is deeply disturbing,” the email read, according to the Sunday Times report, with the complainant asking for “immediate action” from the authorities.
“I remain deeply concerned about my own safety, constantly wondering if I might become the next victim.”
According to the BBC, which quoted official sources, “a dispute over a task the team leader wanted the team to do – a weather-dependant task that required a schedule change”, had triggered the dispute.
Where is the base and what is the team doing there?
The SANAE IV base is some 4,000km (2,500 miles) from South Africa, 80km (50 miles) “inland” from the edge of the continent’s eastern Queen Maud Land region. A three-module, bright orange structure, it is perched on a rocky outcrop on the edge of the Ahlmann Ridge of mountains and surrounded by a glacial ice sheet. South African researchers have been collecting scientific weather data for climate monitoring, atmospheric studies, and geological surveys there since 1960.
According to information from the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP), the current team was deployed on February 1 and is being led by technician Mbulaheni Kelcey Maewashe. Other members of the crew include one doctor, scientists and several engineers.
Research teams like these often have to work together in close quarters and against a backdrop of hostile weather – including 24-hour dark days in the winter – for several months before they can leave. Antarctica is now entering winter.
There is often little to no contact with the outside world. This team is expected to stay on for 13 months, and one supply ship is planned to reach them in December — next summer in Antarctica — according to the programme’s website.
How has the South African government responded?
In a statement released on Monday, South African authorities confirmed they first received a distress message on February 27. That message reported an alleged assault on the base’s leader – assumed to be Maewashe but unconfirmed by officials.
The statement added that the environment department had “immediately activated the response plan in order to mediate and restore relations at the base” and that the incident and allegations of sexual harassment were being investigated.
Officials said government personnel from the Environment Ministry and counsellors had intervened remotely. Officials said they were being supportive, but also that they would be “firm in dealing with issues of discipline”. No team member has been named.
“The alleged perpetrator has willingly participated in further psychological evaluation, has shown remorse, and is willingly cooperative,” the ministry said. The accused team member had also written a formal apology to the victim of the alleged assault, the statement read.
Officials said the team would not be evacuated.
All crew members underwent psychological evaluation before their deployment, authorities said, to test their fitness for the extreme isolation and weather that they would face, and all had been declared fit.
“It is not uncommon that once individuals arrive at the extremely remote areas where the scientific bases are located, an initial adjustment to the environment is required,” the Environment Ministry said.
Which other countries have bases in Antarctica?
There are some 70 permanent research stations on the icy continent – as well as on islands close to it – operated by several countries. While some bases are active all year round, other facilities only operate during the Antarctic summer months of October to March, when animal species are active.
A few of them, in addition to South Africa’s SANAE IV, include:
United States: Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and McMurdo Station
China: Kunlun Station and Great Wall Station
Russia: Vostok, Bellingshausen, Progress, and Mirny stations
Poland: Arctowski Station
India: Bharati Station
Brazil: Comandante Ferraz Station
South Korea: Jang Bogo and King Sejong stations
Ukraine: Akademik Vernadsky Station
Chile: Gonzales Videla Research Base
Argentina: Almirante Brown Antarctic Base
A 1959 Antarctic Treaty set regulations for the signatories and ensured that researchers and countries work together to maintain the continent’s pristine ecosystem. The stations are staffed with about 1,200 people in all in the winter months and about 4,000 people in the summer.
Have there been other violent incidents at bases in Antarctica?
Such incidents, while rare, have been recorded on such expeditions in the past.
In October 2018, reports of a stabbing at the dining hall of the Russian-operated Bellingshausen research station emerged. The perpetrator, Sergey Savitsky, a 54-year-old electrical engineer, was removed and placed under “house arrest” in Russia. He was noted to have been undergoing an “emotional breakdown”. The victim, 52-year-old welder Oleg Beloguzov, who was injured and evacuated to Chile for treatment, later dropped charges due to Savitsky’s remorse.
South Africa’s Marion Island station, which is close to Antarctica rather than on it, reported a violent incident in 2017 after a team member smashed up a colleague’s room with an axe over relationship problems.
Teams from Australia and the US revealed allegations of sexual harassment against female crew members in separate reports commissioned by the respective countries’ Antarctica programmes in 2022. Members complained of unwanted requests for sex and displays of pornographic material, among other issues.
