South African researchers accused Antarctic of “control” after attacks, South Africa says

Johannesburg – It sounds like the plot of a horror movie. The researchers insist on sending an email to the world on a remote research in Antarctica, begging colleagues for help.

But this is true. A researcher at an isolated SANAE IV base in South Africa sent an emergency email to an Antarctica researchers accusing a man, one of nine team members, of becoming violent and mentally unstable. In an email sent to reporters in the South African Sunday Times newspaper, researchers who have not yet been publicly identified requested immediate action to ensure the safety of the team.

According to the Times, researchers claimed that male team members beat a colleague, threatened to kill another colleague, and sexually assaulted another colleague. However, South African officials later said the report of sexual assault was incorrect.

“His behavior has become more and more shocking, and I’m having a lot of difficulties and feeling safe while he’s there.

South Africa’s Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment issued a statement saying that the alleged attack at the base was reportedly February 27, triggering a response plan that allowed government agencies to mediate using “trained professionals”. The department said the mediators continued to interact with the team at the base “almost every day.”

According to the agency, the so-called perpetrators “willing to participate in further psychological assessments, show remorse and are willing to cooperate to follow any interventions recommended.”

The statement continued that the male perpetrator had apologized to the victim and was willing to “verbally apologize to other team members.”

“The situation at the base is calm and everything is under control,” South African Environment Minister Dion George told CBS News on Tuesday.

“I will be in close contact with the base to make sure it stays that way,” George said, adding that “a team of psychologists and other experts” also had “direct, continuous” contact with the team.

When he pressed down what else he could do to keep the team safe, George said he was “thinking the options available.”

These options may be few, as harsh weather conditions have completely cut the base from sea. The base is located on stilts near the edge of the cliff – the team will remain in a row of buildings until December, the heart of Antarctic summer, when a ship will depart from South Africa for a nearly 15-day journey to retrieve them.

An emergency evacuation will cost a huge price to evacuate the team before that.

The Ministry of Environment said it also activated a legal “labor-management relations process to investigate [claim of] Physical assault and suspected sexual harassment. ”

There have been several incidents in the past, with team members at a remote foundation threatening violence and at least two other team members evacuated during previous expeditions.

The latest incident sparked discussions about the reliability of giving psychological tests before deploying to isolated sites. Scientists have previously been dispatched to bases and talked about its loneliness, surrounded by white people and silence, with the rest of the world and the ability to bear the loss of someone’s mental health.