Brasilia: 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.
A third navy member was injured but stable after the fire, which broke out in a building housing power generators at the Comandante Ferraz base, the navy said in a statement. It said those evacuated had been flown to Chile's Antarctica station.
President Dilma Rousseff in a statement offered condolences to the families of the two victims identified as Carlos Alberto Vieira Figueiredo and First Sergeant Roberto Lopes dos Santos and praised the efforts to bring the blaze under control.
There was no immediate word on what might have caused the fire. She said Brazil was also determined to rebuild the base, which is on the continent's King George Island. She called Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to thank him for his country's assistance in the face of the emergency.
Risks of activity
Several South American countries have bases in Antarctica where they carry out scientific research, despite concerns among environmentalists over the risks of human activity on the planet's least populated and most pristine continent. Brazil has had a base in Antarctica since 1984.
The group evacuated from the base would be flown to Punta Arenas in Chile by the Argentine air force, and then back to Brazil in a Brazilian air force plane, Brazil's navy said.
