A plane has landed at the South Pole after a nine-hour journey over the icy continent to evacuate a sick worker from a remote science station.
The aircraft set out from Rothera - a British base on the Antarctic peninsula - according to the National Science Foundation , which runs the American outpost.
The pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and medical worker will rest for at least 10 hours before refuelling and making the marathon 1,500-mile journey back to Rothera, said NSF spokesman Peter West.
The worker - whose medical condition has not been disclosed - will then be flown out of Antarctica for treatment.
"It went all according to plan," said Mr West.
A second worker is also ill, but officials have yet to decide whether that patient will also fly out.
The workers are employees of Lockheed Martin, which deals with logistics at the station, but they have not been named.
The NSF tweeted a webcam image of the rescue plane at the US outpost, where the temperature on Tuesday afternoon was -60C.
The Twin Otter plane can fly in temperatures as low as -75C, said Mr West, who added that the aircraft's fuel needs to be warmed before any takeoff.
He said a "light sensitive" camera plus additional light from the moon had helped capture a clear image of the mission, despite it being nearly pitch black.
There are 39 men and 9 women currently at the NSF station.
Workers at the South Pole are isolated from February through to October, the coldest and darkest months, when it is considered too risky for routine flights.
"The air and Antarctica are unforgiving environments and punish any slackness very hard," said Tim Stockings, operations director at the British Antarctic Survey in London.
"If you are complacent it will bite you. Things can change very quickly down there."
There have been three emergency evacuations from the Amundsen-Scott station since 1999 where 48 people - 39 men and nine women - are currently based.
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