'Brilliant' scientist may have drunk poison

An Antarctic scientist who drank heavily and used drugs may have died because he accidentally drank poison instead of alcohol, a coroner has found.

Regional Coroner Richard McElrea found Dr Rodney David Marks died at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on May 12, 2000, as a result of acute methanol poisoning.

The inquest into the mysterious incident involving the poisonous industrial chemical also highlighted police frustrations dealing with the United States authorities.

The coroner's findings, released yesterday, said the physician at the station failed to carry out important checks on Marks.

Marks, who was described as a "brilliant, witty" man "who drank to excess on occasion", maintained the observatory and telescope at the base.

The coroner said it was uncertain how Marks came to have the methanol in his system, but there was no suggestion of suicide.

"It could well be that he thought he had consumed ethanol from laboratory sources but in fact had consumed methanol," the coroner wrote in his findings.

It was suspected "moonshine" was produced at the base and there was a possibility this could contain methanol.

Drinking it could also have come about "through a third person's actions, either in the form of a prank or with a more sinister motive. There is no evidence before the Coroner's Court to support this theory," the findings said.

Marks, 32, an Australian, complained he was feeling ill and his "vision was not too good" on May 11. The next morning he began vomiting blood. He was said to have been anxious and scared, and his vision deteriorated.

After Marks lost consciousness and stopped breathing, medical staff tried to revive him but failed.

The coroner said base physician Dr Robert Thompson did not diagnose the methanol poisoning and "failed to carry out certain diagnostic checks".

"They would have been helpful in narrowing the diagnostic possibilities but would not have necessarily changed the ultimate outcome," he said.

Thompson also failed to investigate recent needle tracks in Marks' arm, "which could have led to vital information on his treatment of the patient".

However, the coroner's findings said it was unlikely Marks injected the methanol and no other drugs were present in his system.

He was known to smoke cannabis and to have used heroin, but friends said they had never seen him use it when he was on the Ice.

The coroner said the case "highlights an unsatisfactory hiatus as to the proper investigation of a death occurring in Antarctica in these circumstances".

Difficulty getting evidence from US authorities, failure to preserve or photograph the scene of death or take statements from staff had added to the difficulty.

The coroner recommended the Government consider how to resolve this problem.