Jan Mela
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Jan Mela (born December 30, 1988 in Gdańsk) is a Polish explorer who, as a teenage double amputee, was the youngest person to reach the North Pole in 2004, and eight months later the South Pole.
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[edit] Loss of limbs
Jan Mela lost an arm and a leg in an accident in 2002. At the age of 13, he sheltered from rain in an electrical transformer building in Malbork, where he was electrocuted by a 15,000 volt shock. The burns and tissue damage sustained meant surgeons had to amputate his left crus and right forearm.[1]
[edit] Polar expeditions
As a member of a four-man expedition led by veteran Polish polar explorer Marek Kamiński called "Together to the Pole", Mela reached the North Pole on April 24, 2004 at the age of 15. After nine days of polar acclimatisation in Spitsbergen, Norway, the team began their 70 km trek on April 4, and received no outside assistance, relying solely on the supplies and gear they could pull on sleds.[2]
Eight months later, Mela and Kamiński reached the South Pole in Antarctica on December 31, 2004 – a day after Mela's 16th birthday. On Christmas they ate typical Polish dishes like beetroot soup and they made a Christmas tree of snow.[3][4]
[edit] References
- ^ Janek Mela struggles for surviving, Radio ORLA, September 22, 2006.
- ^ Polish teenager conquers North Pole, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 26, 2004.
- ^ Teen conquers Poles on one leg, Deccan Herald, January 2, 2005.
- ^ Reaching Their Goals, The Washington Post, January 20, 2005.
[edit] External links
- Together to the North Pole, Destination Elsewhere Travel Magazine (photos of the expedition)
