RIP! Scottish scientist dies in Antarctica in snowmobile accident

A Dundee-born scientist has died in Antarctica after fell into a crevasse.

Dr Gordon Hamilton, 50, was killed after the vehicle plunged 100ft (30.48m) into the crevasse on Saturday.

His body was later recovered and the US Antarctic Program has started an investigation into his departure.

He was part of a team camped in a heavily crevassed area called the Shear Zone, around 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) south of McMurdo Station, the biggest of the three US research stations in Antarctica.

‘Awful reminder’

Colleagues paid tribute to the scientist following the tragedy.

Paul Mayewski, director of the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, said: “You knew that if Gordon came into the tent, that things were going to be enjoyable and pleasant.

“They were repeating an activity which they’d done many times before, but it is a dangerous place and injuries happen. That is precisely what this was.”

Dr Hamilton spent much of his time in Greenland and Antarctica studying the motion and melting of glaciers and its effect on rising sea levels.

The National Science Foundation, which was financing the research of Dr Hamilton, is organizing the return of his body to the States.

Kelly K. Falkner, manager of the department’s polar programs, said: “The departure of one of our co-workers is a tragic reminder of the hazards we all face, no matter how hard we work at mitigating those risks, in field research.”