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A fire that broke out at a Brazilian inquiry post in Antarctica has killed two people , injured a third , and forced more than 40 to evacuate the outstation .
An explosion shake a motorcar room in the Comandante Ferraz research station at around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday ( Feb. 25 ) , and fire speedily spread out , according to Brazilian media andreports from the Associated Press .
Antarctica’s Alexander Island mountain range, snapped during a NASA research flight in October 2011.
Several dozen of the scientists and prole evacuated from the station have now returned to Rio de Janeiro , and key their trial by ordeal to Brazilian paper .
The other aurora fire forced many people out into the 23 - arcdegree ( minus 5 degrees Anders Celsius ) weather in only their Nox apparel . The group direct refuge in two outbuildings that were n’t connected to the flame station and shared coats and warm clothes .
Fires or disasters of any kind are peculiarly dangerous in Antarctica , thehighest , driest , wordy and coldest continent on Earth . Harsh , frozen conditions on the southernmost continent can hamper air travelling , making evacuations unmanageable , especially now that austral winter is descending .
Antarctica’s Alexander Island mountain range, snapped during a NASA research flight in October 2011.
The disaster killed two Navy military man , who ran toward the burning part of the building to try out to fight the flames . The man offend in the fire , also a member of the Brazilian US Navy , is in stable shape .
scientist enjoin that their enquiry , let in many unreplaceable samples , was lost to the flames .
" We lost much more than material . We have lost life story , " biophysicist and seasoned south-polar research worker John Paul Machado Torres toldO Estado de S. Paulo .
The Comandante Ferraz Station , built toward the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula , began operations in 1984 . The fire ruin roughly 70 percent of the facility .
It ’s not absolved what caused the fire , but some Brazilian media story have hinted that a problem with ethanol generators at the base sparked the blaze .
The last flight of stairs of the seasonrecently digress from the South Pole . For the next six to eight months , the 50 masses persist at the U.S. Amundsen - Scott research station will have no physical link to the outside creation .
In 2011 , Renee - Nicole Douceur , who worked as a managing director at the post , suffered a stroking , but bad weather maroon her at the South Pole from the outset of her trial by ordeal , in August , until a plane could airlift her out in October . The New Hampshire resident survived .
