Ice evacuation succeeds

Photo / Supplied

A New Zealand Air Force plane has made a rare wintertime landing on an ice runway in Antarctica to evacuate an American worker in a serious medical condition.

Blizzard conditions that forced anotrher flight back on Sunday eased, enabling the Orion aircraft to land at the US McMurdo Station base.

The patient was taken to Christchurch Hospital after the seven-hour flight back to New Zealand.