It’s often said that you can expect to bump into an Irish person all over the world, but meeting an old school-mate in Antarctica possibly takes the biscuit.

A small plane took off from a British Antarctic base tonight to rescue a sick American doctor at the South Pole.

A rescue team left today for the South Pole, flying into the face of high winds and near-total darkness on a risky effort to evacuate an ailing American doctor working at the end of the world.