Brazil Wednesday reopened its scientific Comandante Ferraz base in Antarctica, which had been destroyed in a fire in 2012. In the incident two soldiers died and more than two thirds of the facilities were destroyed.
A symbolic ceremony launching the reconstruction of Brazil's Comandante Ferraz Antarctic base was held at the Chilean Antarctic Institute in Punta Arenas with the attendance of top officials from both countries. The Brazilian base, located in King George Island was a total loss back in February 2012 caused by a fire that started at the power room.
Brazil said on Thursday it will start work early next year on a new Antarctic base to replace the one gutted by a 2012 fire. The new station would be modern and built with more resistant material, Navy Admiral Julio Soares de Moura told reporters as he unveiled the 54 million dollar project.
The Brazilian Navy announced in Rio the winning proposal for the new Antarctic research base Comandante Ferraz which in February last year was destroyed by fire with the loss of two lives and damages in excess of 12 million dollars.
Royal Navy Ice patrol HMS Protector has arrived in Antarctica for the first time this season after her long sail south from Portsmouth. She will spend this, the first of her four work periods in the ice this Austral Summer, supporting an international team conducting formal Antarctic Treaty inspections of sites across the Peninsula.
Three navy supply ships will head for Antarctica next month to begin rebuilding a Brazilian naval base destroyed by a deadly fire in February, Defence Minister Celso Amorim said Monday.
Brazil approved the allocation of 40 million Reais (approx 22 million dollars) to rebuild and modernize the country’s Antarctic research station Comandante Ferraz which was destroyed during a fire last month.
The tragedy in the Antarctic King George Island involving the Brazilian base should be “a great lesson for Chile” and is evidence that research scientists and military personnel coexist in Antarctica under “improvised conditions”.
A fire broke out at Brazil's research station in Antarctica on Saturday, killing two navy personnel and forcing the evacuation by helicopter of about 40 other people, the government said.