A British army medic who made history by becoming the first woman of colour to trek across the Antarctic is now stranded at the South Pole after a Covid outbreak.
Preet Chandi, 32, from Derby, travelled 700 miles in 40 days, facing temperatures of -50c on her journey last week.
But she is now unable to fly back to Chile as the pilots due to take her have contracted the virus, reports Derbyshire Live.
Having travelled to the Union Glacier, Preet will fly to the South American country before returning to the UK in the coming days, if all goes to plan.
When she arrives in Chile she will have an Internet connection for the first time in more than a month.
Since completing the trek, there has been an outpouring of support for the army captain, including from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister commended Preet on her journey, saying: “What an extraordinary achievement. Congratulations Captain Preet Chandi.”
As she travelled across the continent, Preet told her followers on social media how she sometimes struggled to keep up her motivation.
Speaking on December 26, she said: “Today felt like one of my hardest days. Not because of the terrain, as the Sastrugi are getting smaller and I had good visibility as well.
“But I haven’t been sleeping a huge amount and I think that’s caught up to me.
“I was sick a few times today which is actually just annoying because you don’t want to take your facemask off, really not what you want when you’re out here.”
But, she persevered and successfully made it to the South Pole after more than a month hiking in the freezing cold weather.
Preet told Forces News how she’s hoping to return to the Antarctic and complete a longer journey.
She said: “I’m hoping to come back and do a crossing and a bit of a longer journey.
“I don’t quite know when I’ll come back yet but as soon as I can get the funding and the time away from work, then that’s the next stage.”
