FGN: Aussie cameraman rescued from Siberian island

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-1998
FGN: Aussie cameraman rescued from Siberian island

EDS: CORRECTS FIRST NAME OF JAPANESE PRODUCER AND LAST NAME OF RUSSIAN SCIENTIST



By Catherine Chisholm

MELBOURNE, Dec 1 AAP - An Australian filmmaker and two colleagues ended a six-week ordeal
today when they were plucked by helicopter from a frozen Siberian island, saving them from a
ferocious Arctic winter.

After weeks of appalling weather, a break in the clouds finally allowed the rescue
helicopter to land on Wrangel Island, where Victorian Rory McGuinness and his two companions
were huddled in a small hut with dwindling food supplies.

The helicopter, sent by international medical emergency company AEA International SOS, this
afternoon flew the trio to safety across the Chukchi Sea to the tiny mainland settlement of
Pevek.

Mr McGuinness, Tatsuhiko Kobayashi, a producer with Japan's largest state television
network, NHK, and Russian scientist Nikita Ovsyannikov had been on Wrangel Island since
September 2, filming a documentary on polar bears.

They had intended to leave on October 15, but were delayed by bad weather which then
prevented their rescue and threatened to strand them on the island until March.

Blizzards and strong winds have struck the island in recent weeks, sending the temperature
plunging to around minus 30 Celsius.

The trios food supplies were running out, and residents of the islands village,
Ushakovskoye, about 130 kilometres from the hut at Cape Blossom, had tried to take emergency
supplies to the crew only to be defeated by bad weather.

But for Rebecca Scott, the partner of Mr McGuinness, 45, of Smoko, in north-eastern
Victoria, todays helicopter rescue was one of the hardest parts of the ordeal.

Mr McGuinness could no longer be contacted by satellite phone and instead was in the hands
of the pilot and harsh weather conditions as they flew over the Arctic ocean.

"This was the most vulnerable link in the whole ordeal," an elated Ms Scott told AAP from
Smoko today.

Much to her relief the wait was over and she would be "high-tailing" it off to meet Mr
McGuinness when he flew from Moscow back to Australia, probably this weekend.

Ms Scott said she had not spoken to her partner since the rescue but imagined he would have
a few vodkas to celebrate.

"I was so pleased because its been a very difficult day following the chopper," she said.

She said Mr McGuinness would be "pretty pleased" he was coming home, and would be
embarrassed about all the fuss.

"Hes got a bit of humility," she said.

He said he did not think it was much of a story if they were rescued in the next few days,
something Ms Scott jokingly attributed to a "lack of news sense".

"Hes pretty keen to come home. I know that he wants to spend a few months at home and will
look at (whats next) then," Ms Scott said.

AEA International SOS spokesman Mark Crawford said todays rescue almost had to be aborted
due to bad conditions.

The helicopter also dropped food at Ushakovskoye for the 30 Russian nationals who live
there, he said.

The rescue was extremely difficult given the remoteness of the area, Mr Crawford said.

Mr McGuinness has travelled around the world shooting wildlife documentaries. Among his
credits are The Nature of Australia shown on the ABC and The Land Of The Tiger.

AAP cmc/jlw/was/de

KEYWORD: RUSSIA TRAPPED NIGHTLEAD

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