Russia honours SA helicopter pilots

The Russian government honoured nine South Africans in Cape Town today for their part in last year's rescue of scientists and crewman from a ship which was trapped in the Antarctic pack ice.
The five helicopter pilots, three flight engineers and captain of the South African polar research vessel, the SA Agulhas, were honoured at a function at the Ysterplaat Air Force Base. The South Africans evacuated 89 Russian scientists and crewmen, who were trapped on the Magdalena Oldendorff in Antarctica in June last year.

The nine were presented with medals by the Russian ambassador to South Africa, Andrei Kushakov. Kushakov said the medal, for the rescue of life, was first awarded in the 19th century. He said only those who had demonstrated selfless heroism during the rescue of people in peace time were eligible for "this high decoration". Kushakov said Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his message to President Thabo Mbeki last year, had stressed that "this noble act vividly testifies to the spirit of friendship and co-operation which is characteristic of the relations between our two countries".

"What the South Africans had done could not be called just a formal duty," he said.

"It was a magnanimous gesture of extending a helping hand to the people who desperately needed and sought it," Kushakov said.

He also thanked the South African authorities, in particular the Department of Environmental Affairs, which co-ordinated the rescue operation.

Sapa