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Henry Worsley
Henry Worsley
Explorer Henry Worsley dies in Antarctic crossing
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Henry Worsley
Explorer Henry Worsley has died after suffering exhaustion and dehydration as he tried to cross Antarctica unaided.
The ex-Army officer, from London, had been rescued 30 miles shy of his goal.
His wife Joanna said she felt "heartbroken sadness" after he died of "complete organ failure".
Mr Worsley, 55, was trying to complete the unfinished journey of his hero, Sir Ernest Shackleton, 100 years later, but in his final audio message, he said: "My summit is just out of reach."
In that last broadcast, sent from Antarctica on Friday, he told supporters: "When my hero, Ernest Shackleton, was 97 miles from the South Pole on the morning of January the 9th 1909, he said he'd shot his bolt.
"Well today I have to inform you with some sadness that I too have shot my bolt."
Mr Worsley said his journey had ended because he did not have the ability to "slide one ski in front of the other".
"I will lick my wounds, they will heal over time and I will come to terms with the disappointment," he added.
'Grinding down'
Prince William has led the tributes to Mr Worsley, who was raising money for the Endeavour Fund, a charity which helps wounded servicemen and women and is managed by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
The duke, who was patron of the expedition, said he and Prince Harry had lost a friend, as he paid tribute to Mr Worsley's "selfless commitment" to fellow soldiers.
"He was a man who showed great courage and determination and we are incredibly proud to be associated with him," he said.
The princes pledged to ensure Mr Worsley's family, which includes his two children, Max, 21, and Alicia, 19, received the support needed "at this terribly difficult time".
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Mr Worsley was rescued on Saturday, day 71 of his expedition, and he died in hospital on Sunday.
The ReMark Group, which was supporting Mr Worsley's effort, said in a statement: "When Henry was picked up by Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), he was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.
"He was flown to a hospital in Punta Arenas [in Chile] where he was found to have bacterial peritonitis.
"This resulted in Henry undergoing surgery but in spite of all the efforts of ALE and medical staff, he succumbed."
Peritonitis is inflammation of the peritoneum, the thin layer of tissue that lines the inside of the abdomen. According to the NHS, most cases come from injury or infection in another part of the body.
On Instagram, David Beckham said he was "lucky to have met Henry", who had "served our country for so many years".
And adventurer Bear Grylls tweeted: "We are devastated by this loss. One of the strongest men & bravest soldiers I know. Praying for his special family."
Gen Sir Nick Carter - the head of the Army and a close friend of the explorer - said Mr Worsley had "extraordinary traits of courage and determination" but he did it all with the "most extraordinary modesty and humility".
Mr Worsley began the 1,100-mile (1,770km) coast-to-coast trek in November, pulling a sledge containing his food, tent and equipment.
The plan was to cross the continent "unassisted and unsupported" - with no supply drops or help from dogs or any other source.
The first solo and unsupported crossing of the continent was achieved by Norwegian Borge Ousland in 1997. But Mr Worsley's record attempt differed as Mr Ousland used a kite to help drag his supply sled.
British explorer Felicity Aston became the first woman to cross the Antarctic alone in January 2012 but she had supply drops
Henry Worsley retired from the British army in October 2015 after a 36-year career, serving with the Royal Green Jackets and later the Rifles Regiment.
Since childhood he had a passionate interest in the lives of the Antarctic explorers of the Edwardian era - Sir Ernest Shackleton, Captain Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen.
In 2008, Mr Worsley led an expedition to commemorate the centenary of Shackleton's "Nimrod" journey, which pioneered a route through the Transantarctic Mountains to a point just 97 miles (156km) short of the South Pole.
To commemorate the centenary of Scott's and Amundsen's expeditions, Mr Worsley returned to Antarctica in 2011, leading a team of six soldiers re-tracing the original 1912 to the South Pole.
He led the Amundsen route - a 900-mile (1448km) unsupported journey - and in doing so, he became the only person to have completed the classic Antarctic routes of Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen.
Source: Endeavour Fund
Mr Worsley's latest expedition again followed in the footsteps of his idol Sir Ernest Shackleton, who set off to cross Antarctica in 1914. The ill-fated trip saw his ship Endurance became trapped in ice for 10 months before it sank, but not one of the expedition's members died.
Sir Ernest Shackleton's granddaughter Alexandra said Mr Worsley's death would be a "huge loss to the adventuring world".
"He was very energetic, very keen on testing himself, seeing how far he could get with his endeavours," she said.
"The whole point of this one was that Henry was doing it on his own. I suppose you could say he was doing more and more adventurous and interesting things."
Mr Worsley had passed his target of raising £100,000, and the Endeavour Fund said in a statement that it was "devastated" by his death.
In October, he told the BBC he expected to lose two stone (12.7kg) during the challenge.
He said his journey should take 75 days and he would take enough food for 80 days.
Asked if he was "mad" to take on the challenge, he said: "What will drive me on is raising money for these wounded soldiers."
The X-Files’ reboot recap
The X-Files’ reboot recap
The X-Files’ reboot recap: ‘My Struggle’ opens with new revelations for Mulder and Scully
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| The X-Files’ reboot recap
The highly anticipated return of “The X-Files,” starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, did not disappoint as it hit the small screen on Sunday in the US. The hit sci-fi show brought back the familiar goosebumps and thrill the fans felt the first time they watched the show in the ‘90s.
The show also brought back creator/director Chris Carter, as well as Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis as Walter Skinner and The Smoking Man respectively. The revived series will only air for a six-episode arc, but, as fans hope, it may extend to more seasons and episodes.
Spoilers ahead for ‘X-Files’ episode ‘My Struggle’
The first episode, titled “My Struggle,” was full of Mulder and Scully uttering the show’s taglines, “The truth is out there” and “I believe.” It opened with a scene in 1947. A doctor was escorted to a military facility to the site of a crashed spaceship in Roswell, New Mexico. The doctor later found an alien crawling away from its ship. The soldiers then shot dead the already wounded alien.
Back to the present day, approximately 14 years after the closure of the X-Files office, Skinner, the assistant director of the FBI, called Scully on the phone. Scully, as it seemed, was the only one who had contact with Mulder, and she could barely get in touch with him as well. It turned out Skinner wanted them to meet an online news anchor named Tad O’Malley (guest star Joel McHale), who had alien conspiracy theories on major events.
O’Malley took them to a remote location in Virginia to meet a young woman named Sveta. Sveta reminded Mulder that he interviewed her when she was a little girl, just after her first alien abduction. She then showed them her navel, which was perforated with holes. She said she had broken memories of her foetuses being scooped out of her.
From Sveta’s observations, the viewers learnt that Mulder suffered from depression, which killed his relationship with Scully. Like her, Scully has alien DNA as well. Svetlana admitted later to Mulder that humans took her foetuses, not aliens. This prompted Mulder to caution Scully, saying they were misled all throughout their career, possibly by the government. He later on met with the doctor in the first scene, now a retired old man.
According to the doctor, the Roswell incident was a smokescreen for a government operation. Apparently, the aliens, concerned with the safety of mankind, ventured to Earth following the detonation of a hydrogen bomb in the ‘40s. A covert US government agency, supported and formed by world leaders, staged alien abductions and implanted alien tissues to unsuspecting humans like Sveta, and took and hid alien technology from the people.
They still didn’t know what the government’s goal was, but, as O’Malley theorised, it wanted the takeover of the country and the world by any means necessary.
Just as O’Malley said he would reveal the truth on his online show the next day, Scully dismissed their theories, saying they were creating fearmongering among people. She also claimed Sveta’s tests came back negative, meaning she did not have alien DNA. This proved out to be a lie, as she would admit to Mulder the next day that she, too, has alien DNA.
The next day, instead of siding with O’Malley as they had originally planned, Sveta told reporters that O’Malley paid her to lie and blame the government. Mulder went to Sveta’s house to confront her but she was nowhere to be found. Military men also stormed into and destroyed a facility where alien spaceship technology was recreated by a group of scientists. O’Malleys website was shut down as well. Sveta was afterwards seen killed by an alien spaceship as her car suddenly broke down.
The last scene revealed the Smoking Man as he said the X-Files has been reopened.
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Royal Rumble 2016
Alaska earthquake
A Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake Just Hit Alaska
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| Alaska earthquake
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Alaska today southwest of Anchorage according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Sunday morning earthquake’s epicenter was located near Cook Inlet approximately 170 miles to the southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Local residents say the shaking lasted 30 seconds and continued to get bigger and bigger as time went on.
There are no reports of injury or significant damage due to the Alaska earthquake and no tsunami threat based on the vertical offset of movement. Two smaller earthquakes followed the larger M 7.1 earthquake within 2 hours, one of M 4.0 and the other M 3.2. The shaking caused road damage, structural damage to walls and foundation, and a gas leak in Kenai that led to the evacuation of homes.
Local officials reported that 4,800 customers were without power on Sunday in Kenai Peninsula on a day when the high is 34 degrees Fahrenheit. Dozens of homes have been evacuated as workers continue to work on the gas leak.
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