28.02.2018

​A British traveler stuck in the North contacted Krasnoyarsk City Administration

The administration of the city of Krasnoyarsk was the only official body the British traveler Hanna McKeand managed to contact, while lost in the vastness of the Russian North. She found the phone number of the Mayor's department on the English-language page of the site and asked for help from the International affairs division of the department. Hannah and her companion, a Canadian traveler, took part in an extreme tour organized by a St. Petersburg travel company. However, during landing at one of the intermediate points the helicopter was damaged, and the pilots could not continue the flight. This happened in the northernmost point of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Cape Arcticheskiy (Komsomolets Island, the Northern Land archipelago). McKeand, her Canadian companion and a person from the Russian travel agency were dropped earlier, at the weather station. As one of the passengers of the helicopter was injured in the accident and had to be taken to the hospital, the waiting time for Hannah and her companions was prolonged which made them rather worried. Now the working issues between the travel company and the air carrier KrasAvia are being resolved in order to deliver foreign travelers to the village of Khatanga in the coming days.

As indicated on the site of the tour operator, the company was established by professional polar explorers and organizes extreme trips for Russians and foreigners since 1991. "Expedition to the North Pole is an extreme adventure depending on a lot of random factors. In order to ensure the safety of the participants of the expedition, we reserve the right to change the terms and routes of the tours," the official page of the tour operator states.​

44-year-old British traveler Hannah McKeand is not conquering the North for the first time. She has many expeditions on her account, and in 2006 she had set a record, becoming the fastest person in the world in reaching the South Pole in a solo travel. 10 years ago, the British adventurer abandoned attempts to become the first woman to conquer the North Pole without anyone's help, after she got seriously injured. Interestingly, before getting professionally engaged in extreme travelling, Hannah McKeand was a theater manager in Newberry and had a successful career in the field of art.