By Natalie O'Neill
In the first attempted murder
ever on the frozen continent of Antarctica, a Russian scientist reportedly
snapped and allegedly tried to stab a colleague to death because the victim
kept giving away the endings of books.
Sergey Savitsky had been trying
to use literature to pass the lonesome months at Bellingshausen Station on King
George Island, but his colleague Oleg Beloguzov was making it impossible to
enjoy his hobby.
“[He] kept telling [him] the endings
of books before he read them,” The Sun reported, citing an unnamed source.
So on Oct. 9, the 55-year-old
Savitsky finally had enough and allegedly plunged a kitchen knife into the
chest of his 52-year-old tormenter. Part of Beloguzov’s heart was wounded,
Russian authorities said.
Beloguzov, a welder, was flown to
the nearest hospital, in Chile, where he is expected to survive.
The men previously had spent four
frigid years working together at the facility. Officials said that while the
reading dispute was the final straw, the close confinement in the camp on
remote Antarctica played a role in fueling the attack.
“They are both professional
scientists who have been working in our expeditions, spending year-long seasons
at the station,” deputy director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Alexander Klepikov told the Russian news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda.
“It is down to investigators to
figure out what sparked the conflict, but both men are members of our team,” he
said.
Savitsky was deported to St.
Petersburg, Russia, and charged with attempted murder on Oct. 22, according to
Pravda.
Savitsky admitted to the stabbing
but claimed he didn’t mean to kill him, the Russian news outlet Nevskie Novosti
reported, citing law-enforcement sources.
The station, which was set up by
the Soviets in 1968, is located in one of Antarctica’s few mild regions — where
winter temperatures hover around a balmy 15 degrees.
Workers can spend time flipping
between two Russian TV channels, exercising at a gym — or reading in the
research library.