Antarctic madness

The novel I recently read The Thing Itself features an episode of murderous madness happening at an Antarctic station, so I was interested to read this article about real life incidents down there:

An Antarctic expeditioner who allegedly threatened colleagues with a large, makeshift knife has been removed from a Korean research station in a rare mid-winter emergency evacuation.

The incident occurred at the Jang Bogo Station, 2,000 kilometres south-east of Australia's Casey Station, on April 13, according to Korean media.

CCTV footage broadcast on Korean media purportedly shows a man walking up a staircase carrying what appears to be a makeshift bladed weapon.

Other footage shows other expeditioners running away from the station's kitchen.

And:

It is not the first time threatening behaviour has occurred at isolated bases in Antarctica, where there are no police to deal with offences.

Hanne Nielsen, a senior lecturer in Antarctic law and governance at the University of Tasmania, said there have also been other high-profile criminal cases on the icy continent.

Last year, reports emerged of an incident at South Africa's SANAE IV that left fellow expeditioners fearing for their safety.

According to South African media, the alleged victim said the accused had threatened to kill someone, "creating an environment of fear and intimidation".

In one incident in 2018, a Russian scientist was accused of stabbing a colleague in the chest for spoiling the endings of books.

And back in 1959, a scientist at another Russian station allegedly murdered a colleague with an ice axe after losing a game of chess.

Dr Nielsen said issues in Antarctica sometimes rapidly escalate because of the challenges of living and working in confined and remote places for long periods.

 That 2018 incident is pretty close in character to the dispute that led to the incident in The Thing Itself.  

It's almost a surprise that it doesn't happen more often, I guess...