ST. PETERSBURG, December 19 (RIA Novosti) – An international team led by Britain’s Prince Harry has visited a Russian research station in Antarctica as part of a charitable trek to the South Pole, a Russian polar research institute said Thursday.
“A group led by Prince Harry visited the Novolazarevskaya station on December 17. The group comprised 12 members of the expedition to the South Pole,” the Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research said in a statement.
The group spent two hours at the station, located at the extreme southeastern tip of the Schirmacher Oasis, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Lazarev Sea. The group met with the station’s personnel and was briefed on their research.
After the visit, the group headed back to its main camp to prepare for a return trip to Cape Town.
The 29-year-old royal prince, along with his fellow “Walking With the Wounded” charity team members, reached the South Pole on December 13, after their 335-kilometer (200-mile) trek, which began on December 2.
Prince Harry, an army Apache helicopter pilot who has served in Afghanistan, took part in a similar expedition that reached the North Pole in 2011.
Walking With the Wounded is a UK charity that helps retrain and re-educate wounded servicemen and -women to help them find long-term employment after leaving the armed forces, according to the organization’s website.
Prince Harry currently serves as patron of the charity.
