The Polar First mission is expected to take more than five months

Colin Bodill wrapped Jennifer Murray in a sleeping bag, erected a tent for shelter and lit a stove for warmth before collapsing from chest injuries.

Mr Bodill, 54, and Mrs Murray, 63, were picked up on Saturday and are receiving hospital treatment in Chile.

The pair were attempting a round-the-world record via South and North poles.

A spokesman for the Polar First Challenge said on Sunday: "Colin sustained injuries typical of those received in high-impact crashes.

"He is undergoing a thorough medical assessment but is lucid, conscious and stable. Jennifer has dislocated an elbow, not broken an arm as was first feared.

"Despite his injuries, it is understood that Colin braved the bitter cold to get Jennifer out of the helicopter following the accident and put her into a sleeping bag.

"He then erected a tent for shelter and lit a stove for warmth before collapsing because of his injuries."

RAF Kinloss in Scotland raised the alarm at 0100 GMT on Friday after picking up the signal from the helicopter's distress beacon.

Rescuers from a logistics company found the adventurers, who had crashed 120 miles north of Patriot Hills, a base on the northern section of the Ronne Ice Shelf in western Antarctica.

Poor weather prevented a rescue aircraft circling overhead from landing, while Mrs Murray and Mr Bodill waited for help in temperatures as low as -40C.

Ms Murray is already a record-breaker

When they were finally picked up, they were first taken to a private Antarctic base at Patriot Hills.

Later, they were flown to hospital in Punta Arenas in Chile where they were met from the plane by a British consul and escorted to hospital.

The pair had reached the South Pole in Mrs Murray's helicopter, a Bell 407, earlier this week at the start of their 33,000-mile (53,000km) trip.

Mrs Murray, from Frome, Somerset, earlier this week writing in her online diary, described landing at the Pole as a "nightmare" due to the freezing winds.

Royal friend

The Polar First mission was expected to take more than five months and included 160 stop-offs en route to highlight the work of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The Duchess of York, an old friend of Mrs Murray who she knows as Jeffa, said she was "delighted and relieved" the pair had been found safe.

Nature always has the last word Duchess of York

She said in a statement: "As always the rescue teams have been extraordinary and everyone is so grateful for all that they have done.

"I know this won't deter Jeffa from trying again and it certainly won't be her last adventure - although both of them will be more than aware that nature always has the last word."

Mrs Murray and Mr Bodill set off from New York on 22 October, waved off on the trip by the Duchess, who is official patron of the Polar First team.

They reached Antarctica earlier this month and were about to head up the west coast of the American continents to the North Pole before finishing in New York in April.

In 2000, Mrs Murray set the world record for the fastest female solo helicopter flight around the world.

Mr Bodill, from Nottingham, accompanied her on that trip in a microlight, becoming the first person to pilot one of the aircraft around the world.

Last Saturday, she met her businessman husband Simon Murray, who is bidding to become the oldest man to walk 850 miles (1,368km) overland to the South Pole unsupported.

He is accompanied on his trip by Arctic explorer Pen Hadow.