British adventurer Henry Worsley died while trying to make history by crossing the Antarctic alone in a trip backed by members of the royal family, his wife said on Monday.
Worsley, 55, was just 48km from the finish when he called for help and was airlifted to a hospital in Chile on Friday, suffering from exhaustion and severe dehydration.
“It is with heartbroken sadness I let you know that my husband, Henry Worsley, has died following complete organ failure,” his wife, Joanna, said in a statement.
Photo: AP
Worsley died in the Clinica Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile, “despite all efforts” of medical staff, she said.
The clinic said in a statement he was admitted on Saturday morning and died early on Sunday afternoon.
In his final statement from the expedition, Worsley expressed his dismay at having to pull out so close to the end after covering almost 1,500km on foot, dragging his equipment in a sledge.
“My journey is at an end. I have run out of time, physical endurance and a simple sheer inability to slide one ski in front of the other,” he said in an audio message. “Many mountaineers battle away and fail to reach the summit. My summit is just out of reach.”
His wife said Worsley had raised ￡100,000 (US$143,000) for the Endeavour Fund, a charity to help military veterans and backed by Britain’s Prince William, his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and brother, Prince Harry.
William paid tribute to Worsley and his attempt to cross Antarctica via the South Pole.
“Harry and I are very sad to hear of the loss of Henry Worsley. He was a man who showed great courage and determination and we are incredibly proud to be associated with him,” William said.
A former British Army officer and father of two from London, Worsley had hoped to become the first man to cross the Antarctic solo, unsupported and without assistance.
The feat was left unfinished a century ago by explorer Ernest Shackleton, whom Worsley described as his “hero.”
Worsley was 71 days into the attempt when he called for help. A statement on his Web site said he was found to be suffering from peritonitis, an inflammation of the lining of the abdomen.
Another British explorer, Ranulph Fiennes, dropped out of a similar charity trek in 2013.
Worsley spent 36 years in the British army and had a keen interest in the lives of Edwardian explorers.
He authored a book about Shackleton, who died of a heart attack on his way back to Antarctica for a new expedition in 1922.
Shackleton’s granddaughter Alexandra Shackleton sent her condolences over Worsley’s death.
“This is a day of great sadness. Henry will be a huge loss to the adventuring world,” she told the BBC. “The fact that he very, very nearly made it — only 30 miles short of his goal — makes it in some way seem worse.”
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Canada next week, his first since relations plummeted after the assassination of a Canadian Sikh separatist in Vancouver, triggering diplomatic expulsions and hitting trade. Analysts hope it is a step toward repairing ties that soured in 2023, after then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau pointed the finger at New Delhi’s involvement in murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar, claims India furiously denied. An invitation extended by new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Modi to attend the G7 leaders summit in Canada offers a chance to “reset” relations, former Indian diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. “This is a
RSS