Two tourists have been rescued after spelling out ‘SOS’ with ice blocks while stranded on a drifting floe.
The man and woman were trying to ski 104 miles across a frozen sea between two countries when disaster struck.
While camping at night, the ice around them started to break up and most of their equipment slipped into the water.
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They managed to leap onto a large ice floe and activate their emergency beacon.
They were stranded in the Gulf of Bothnia between Oulu in Finland and Luleå in Sweden.
The gulf is the northernmost tip of the Baltic Sea and typically freezes over for up to six months a year.
The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Turku, operated by the Finnish Border Guard, received the distress call at around 6.30am on Saturday (14 Mar).
Rescue crews from Finland and Sweden immediately sent a search plane and special hovercraft to find them.
While waiting on the fragmenting floe, the tourists lost their beacon and ended up using chunks of ice to spell out ‘SOS’, as reported by NeedToKnow.
The hovercraft crew rescued the victims about five hours later.
The coast guard said the German tourists, who were unharmed, were both experienced outdoor enthusiasts who were well-equipped on the trip.
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