MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean Polar expedition ready to begin.

The two Twin Otters of the Chilean Antarctic expedition advance party arrived last Friday to Arturo Parodi base, belonging to the Chilean Air Force, in Patriot Hills, Ellsworth Mountains.

The nine men party took off from Punta Arenas last Tuesday with a first call in Las Estrellas, in the Chilean Eduardo Frei base. The following jump was to British base Rothera for refuelling and then on to Arturo Parodi where they will set up a support and logistics centre for the Chilean expedition that will attempt reaching the South Pole.

Meantime a giant Russian made Ilyushin IL-76, considered one of world's largest aircraft, is expected this weekend in Punta Arenas with all the staff and equipment of the Chilean polar land expedition including snow-cats.

Two Hercules are scheduled to leave next November 2 for Patriot Hills with a combined team of scientists, experts and Chilean military who will then begin the expedition, the first ever organized by a country the size of Chile.

The expedition is a combined effort of the Chilean Ministry of Defence, Armed Forces and the Centre for Scientific Studies from Valdivia and will concentrate in collecting data related to climate, atmosphere and geology.

"With the Armed Forces and the Defence Ministry we've managed to organize an expedition which is a landmark in Chile's history and the first ever organized by a Latinamerican country. The scientific interest is enormous, but so is the emotive side of such an expedition", said Claudio Teitelboim from the Valdivia Centre for Scientific Studies.

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