Ranulph Fiennes evacuated from Antarctic base
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Sir Ranulph Fiennes has begun his journey home after having to pull out of an expedition across Antarctica in winter because of frostbite.
He has been evacuated from the base camp to the Princess Elisabeth Station, after waiting days for the weather to improve.
From there the 68-year-old will fly to Novo before heading for South Africa later.
Once there he will be treated for frostbite, before returning to the UK.
A team from the Belgian International Polar Foundation reached Sir Ranulph at the Ice Station earlier on Wednesday, despite winds of around 20 knots and temperatures at -18C and moved him to the Princess Elisabeth Station some 70kms away.
Continue reading the main story Frostbite Frostbite is damage to the skin and tissue due to exposure to freezing temperatures
It can affect any part of the body, but extremities like fingers, ears, the nose and toes, are particularly vulnerable
When it is cold the body diverts blood flow from the extremities to vital organs like the heart and lungs
As the blood is redirected, the extremities get colder and fluid in these tissues begin to freeze
Initially you may feel pins and needles and painful throbbing, but as the tissues freeze the area becomes numb
Ice crystals form, damaging cells, and the low blood flow starves the tissue of oxygen
If the blood flow is not restored soon enough the tissue will die and may need to be amputated
Almost all cases of frostbite can be prevented by wearing appropriate clothing and avoiding unnecessary exposure to cold
The team will fly him to the Russian-run Novolazarevskaya Station (Novo), an Antarctic research station, and from there to Cape Town on Wednesday evening.
The explorer was injured after a fall while skiing during training. He used his bare hands to fix a ski binding in temperatures around -30C.
The rest of the team will continue with their 2,000-mile (3,219km) trek as part of the "Coldest Journey" expedition as they aim to become the first people in history to cross the Antarctic in winter.
Traverse manager Brian Newham said: "Although Ran is no longer physically with us we carry his determination and incredible spirit forward and we hope that he will be proud of what we achieve.
"It is now only a few hours since we said our difficult farewells but we are already moving south and are poised to gain the polar plateau. Onwards."
Sir Ranulph had been due to lead the team from the front on skis, and had been practising his skiing in whiteout conditions when he fell.
The expedition - from the Russian base of Novolazarevskaya to the Ross Sea - is expected to take six months.
The journey will benefit Seeing is Believing, a charity which tackles avoidable blindness.
A file photo of .  

After suffering severe  the British explorer Sir  has decided to pull out from  expedition across Antarctica. The 68-year-old was frostbitten whilst training at a base camp in Antarctica. He fell over and fixed a  with his bare hands in roughly -30 temperatures.

He is now on his way to  after several days of blizzard conditions halted his evacuation. Despite his withdrawal, the expedition is to continue without him and his fellow team members are to trek the 2,000 miles (3,219km) across Antarctica from  (Novo) to the  starting on March 21, at the  and approaching winter, taking six months. A team successfully travelled approximately 70 to transport him by  to the .  He is now to be flown on to Novo for a flight to Cape Town.

Organisers of The Coldest Journey expedition said in a statement, "The condition is such that he has very reluctantly decided with the support of the team doctor and in the interests of the success of the expedition and its associated aims, to withdraw from Antarctica while the possibility to do so still exists, before the onset of the Antarctic winter". 

Expedition organiser Tony Medniuk told the ''BBC'', "After five years of preparation, a small slip like this and a few moments can undermine the most meticulous preparation". Ian Prickett, a member of the team, said on Twitter "Sir Ran is leaving but we will carry on."

The team hopes to raise 10 million (6.2 million) for avoidable- charity . This is to be the first time any human has walked across Antarctica during winter and the expedition team are bracing themselves for cold around -90C and near-permanent darkness. 

Fiennes also suffered from frostbite whilst on an expedition to the  in 2000 and, as a result, lost the tips of the fingers on his left hand. 

 has called Sir Ranulph "the world's greatest living explorer". In the past he became the first person to reach both the North and  by surface as well as the oldest Briton, at age 65, to reach the summit of  in 2009. Another British explorer, , died a century ago on his Antarctic expedition after being caught out by the beginning of winter.