For most of the year, South Africa’s SANAE IV research station is one of the most isolated places on Earth: cut off from the rest of the world in the Antarctic for up to 10 months at a time and battered by some of the planet’s harshest weather. Life at the base is tough—and, at times, terrifying.
In late February, crew members sent a desperate SOS message from the station, which sits on a cliff edge 105 miles inland from the ice shelf. They alleged that one of the nine-member team had assaulted and sexually harassed colleagues, made death threats and left them fearing for their lives.