ARCTIC RESCUES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 407, 16 July 1928, Page 9

ARCTIC RESCUES

CASTAWAYS’ STORY GREAT HARDSHIPS (United PA. — By Telegraph—Copyright I (Australian Press Association) LONDON, Sunday. Messages from King’s Bay, Spitsbergen, confirm that Swedish and Finnish airmen have rescued Captain Sora, who was thought to have been the victim of the Polar bears, and a sledgedriver named Vandongen at Foyn Island, about 20 miles north of North East Land. The two men were overjoyed at being saved. Immediately they saw the airplanes —the Swedish machine Upland and the Finnish machine Tarkj—they waved to pilots who after the rescue wirelessed to the captain of the Krassin, who in turn broadcast the good news. Both the rescued men had suffered great hardships. They were compelled to kill five of their nine dogs, andvthey had lived on the flesh for a fortnight. Captain Sora was almost exhausted when he was found. The two men left King’s Bay with a Danish engineer named Vanning in order to search for the late Professor Malmgren and Commandants Mariano and Zappi. On the trek Vanning became ill and remained behind, while Sora and Vandongen went on. It is believed that the Krassin expedition has also rescued the Italian Chasseurs, whose signals were seen when the icebreaker was approaching the Viglieri party. ZAPPI'S STORY Commandant Zappi says the 10 men who crashed in the Italia’s gondola all suffered from shock. He was laid up for three days. Professor Malmgren gave up the struggle a fortnight after the walking party had started. Commandants Zappi and Mariano encountered huge hummocks of ice and patches of open water and could make no further progress. Their food supplies were exhausted three days later. They remained on the iceberg for 10 days and had given up hope until they saw the airplane of the Russian flyer Chuknovsky. When they heard the Krassin’s siren next day they were moved to tears. Professor Malmgren entrusted Commandant Zappi with a pocket compass to be given to the former’s mother as a souvenir.