A Russian scientist working at the Bellingshausen research station on King George Island, in Antarctica, was charged with attempted murder after he stabbed a fellow colleague with a kitchen knife for allegedly revealing the endings of books that he was reading.

55-year-old Sergey Savitsky and Oleg Beloguzov, 52, had been working together at Russia’s remote Bellingshausen for four years and they were both known to their colleagues as professionals. However, on October 9th, Savitsky reportedly took a kitchen knife and plunged it into Beloguzov’s chest, in what has been referred to as the first known attempted murder in Antarctica, ever. It will probably go down in history as one of the strangest as well, as investigators recently revealed that a possible explanation for the crime could be the spoiling of book endings.

Photo: DariuszSankowski/Pixabay

According to Russian media, both men were avid readers, going through numerous books to pass the time on the isolated research station., but Beloguzov had made a habit of tormenting his colleague by revealing the endings of books he was reading before he got to them. On October 9th, after Oleg allegedly once again told Savitsky the end of the book he was reading, the scientist couldn’t take it anymore so he just took a knife and stabbed his tormentor in the chest.

“[He] kept telling [him] the endings of books before he read them,” The Sun reported, citing an unnamed source

Luckily for Beloguzov, who worked as a welder at the station, he was flown to a hospital in Chile fast enough for the doctors there to save his life. Although the knife damaged his heart, the man is now in a stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.

Photo: Akulovz/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Savitsky, on the other hand, gave himself up to police after flying to Saint Petersburg on October 20, and is currently under house arrest on a charge of attempted murder. He admitted the attack to Russian investigators, but added that he never meant to kill his colleague, news outlet Nevskie Novosti reported, citing law-enforcement sources.

While Beloguzov’s cruel jokes may have been the hair that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, investigators believe that alcohol and the close confinement in the research base may have played a part in the crime as well. Staff at Bellingshausen have access to just two Russian TV channels, a gym, and a small library, but there is no shortage of vodka, which is shipped in from Russia.