Twenty tourists stranded on an ice floe drifting in Admiralty Inlet near Arctic Bay, Nunavut, are safely back on shore, rescue officials said Wednesday.
Although the tourists, who include two Americans, are out of immediate danger, fog continues to hamper efforts by the Royal Canadian Air Force to pick them up,
NBC News reported.
When the 10 tourists and 10 guides awoke Tuesday, they discovered that a three-mile-long piece of ice shelf on which they had slept had broken free and begun to drift away.
Graham Dickson of Arctic Kingdom, the adventure group sponsoring the tour, said favorable tidal and wind changes eventually pushed the three-mile-long floe back towards the coast near the entrance of the Northwest Passage. This allowed the group - along with 10 local hunters who were also adrift - to make their way to safer ground.
Low-lying fog prevented helicopters based in Gander, Newfoundland from reaching the group early this morning.
Steve Neta with the
Royal Canadian Air Force said the plan is to try again this afternoon.
"The tour group and the hunters will be flown back to Arctic Bay. From there, the tourists will fly home, he said.
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