A Dangerous Rescue Mission Appears To Have Saved the Lives of 3 People at a Base in Antarctica
Temperatures were -11 degrees at the time of the mission.
Published Aug. 7 2025, 4:05 p.m. ET
New Zealand's air force pulled off a daring rescue mission at the start of August 2025, when they flew into a remote air base under the cover of darkness and in below freezing temperatures to transport three people to safety.
The proud officials manning the Royal New Zealand Air Force's social media account shared some photos from the rescue, including a bit of info surrounding how the "heroic" mission actually went down.
Knowing just how dangerous the mission was has prompted many to ask what the reason for the Antarctic evacuation was, hoping to better understand what kind of emergency would put a plan like that into action.
You can find out more about the rescue, including some details about how they managed to pull off the daring save, below.
Why were three people rescued during a daring mission in Antarctica?
The Royal New Zealand Air Force released a statement on Aug. 6, 2025, detailing what happened when Air Force C-130J Hercules intervened in a medical emergency that took place at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
"One person required urgent medical care and two others needing medical attention were also taken on the flight," the statement read.
Apparently, the conditions were very tricky at the time of the rescue, and the Air Component Commander, Air Commodore, shared a bit of what had to be done to make the mission a success in the statement, saying, "The crew can only attempt the flight after detailed analysis of the weather and airfield state. The United States Antarctic Program Winter Team must physically create the runway before we can depart by ensuring the ice is groomed and suitable for landing."
He went on to add that while the situation was determined to be safe enough to attempt, it was still a very challenging mission and required night vision goggles.
"This, coupled with there being no airfields available to divert to once the aircraft is past a certain point south, adds to the risk, so these missions are not taken lightly," the Air Component Commander, Air Commodore, continued, thanking the U.S. National Science Foundation for their help.
According to CBS News, no additional information has been shared about exactly what kind of medical condition prompted the rescue, who the patients were, or what their progress was once they made it to Christchurch for further evaluation and care.
What goes on at McMurdo Station in Antarctica?
The three people who were rescued were picked up at McMurdo Station, which Wikipedia says is located at the southern tip of Ross Island. The base is run by the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), and it's able to hold up to 1,500 residents at a time.
During the Antarctic night — which is the period of time when 24-hour darkness is common and is what was happening when the people were rescued — there are fewer than 200 people calling the base home.
The base helps to support local field stations, research, and projects, and marks the very beginning of the South Pole Traverse road. Some of the projects McMurdo supports include ANSMET (meteorite collecting), the Lower Erebus Hut (which studies the active Mount Erebus volcano), WAIS Divide Camp (ice coring), and more.
There has been no word on which of these projects, if any, the rescued people were working on at the time of their medical event.