Posted on 03/09/2004 8:25:59 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Today: March 09, 2004 at 13:40:50 PST
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - Rescue helicopters searched Tuesday for a female explorer who was feared lost on a journey to the North Pole, a spokesman for the expedition said.
Finnish adventurer Dominick Arduin, 43, hoped to be the first woman to reach the North Pole alone and unaided.
She was last heard from Friday, the first day of her trip, when she called from Arctic Russia on a satellite phone, said Reijo Hietanen, whose advertising company in Finland is responsible for updating her Web site.
At the time, Arduin said she had switched on an Argos beacon, a transmitter that sends a positioning signal, but her expedition team has not been able to detect it.
"We fear the worst, but hope for the best. We really hope it's only a technical hitch," Hietanen said.
Her expedition began from Mys Arkticheskiy, a cape on an island in the Arctic Ocean some 2,200 miles northeast of Moscow. She planned to kayak across a 35-mile stretch of mostly open waters in the Arctic Ocean before reaching the ice pack, where she would start skiing, Hietanen said.
Helicopters scanned the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia on Tuesday and planned to resume their search Wednesday.
Earlier Tuesday, helicopters rescued Frenchman Frederic Chamard-Boudet, who also began an attempt to reach the North Pole alone at the same time as Arduin on a separate expedition in the same region. Chamard-Boudet called for help after he was unable to continue.
Chamard-Boudet said he had not seen Arduin.
Weather forecasters predicted possible storms in the region during the next few days, Hietanen said.
French-born Arduin has lived in Finnish Lapland for 15 years. She is known for her exploits, including winning the Paris-Dakar Mountain Bike Rally in 1987.
In 2001, she reached the magnetic North Pole, 13 years after the first woman, American Helen Thayer, walked there alone and unaided.
Last year, Arduin failed to reach the geographical North Pole after falling through ice and losing several of her toes to frostbite.
---
On the Net:
http://www.arctic-dominick.com/northpole2004-english
--
Missing adventurer assumed dead
From correspondents in Helsinki
March 20, 2004
A SEARCH team looking for Finnish-French North Pole adventurer Dominick Arduin, who is now presumed to be dead, has found no sign of her after combing the area where she was believed to be.
"The helicopters searched again ... in all of the zones where she was expected to be, but found no sign of her," said Christian de Marliave, of the Paris-based firm Cerpolex, which is organising and funding the rescue operation.
After refuelling, the two helicopters would set out on a final sweep before returning to their base in northern Russia at dusk and formally end the search, De Marliave said.
The search team found a hat and a ski pole from an earlier expedition, but after scanning the Russian Arctic for more than a week rescuers have yet to find any signs of Arduin, apart from an old ski track and her first campsite.
An experienced Arctic adventurer, Arduin, 43, went missing on March 6, a day after she set out on the ice from Russian Siberia on her second attempt to reach the North Pole alone on skis, a feat never accomplished by a woman.
A search for her was launched on March 9, but with no sign of her for more than 10 days, her support team and rescuers now believe her to be dead.
In one of her last calls to her support team on March 5, Arduin said that the next morning she intended to cross a one-kilometre stretch of open water in the kayak she had with her.
De Marliave said Arduin probably fell through the ice and into the water and froze to death.
Last year, Arduin had to give up her first bid to get to the northernmost point on earth after she fell into freezing water and suffered frostbite to her feet, leading to the amputation of all her toes.
Born in France, Arduin had lived in Finland for the past 15 years.
AFP
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.