Two German campers stranded on cracking sea ice were rescued after spelling out a giant “SOS” in a bid to be saved after their tent was dragged into the freezing sea overnight.
The incident took place on the frozen Bay of Bothnia between Oulu, Finland, and Lulea, Sweden, with the rescue confirmed on 15th March.
The pair, a German man and woman, had been attempting a long-distance ski trek across the icy stretch of the Baltic Sea and had pitched their tent on the frozen surface for the night.
But as they slept, the ice beneath them began to fracture and break apart, sending almost all of their equipment plunging into the icy water.
According to the Western Finland Coast Guard, the couple scrambled out of the collapsing area and made it onto more stable ice, escaping with barely any of their belongings.
With temperatures low and conditions deteriorating, they triggered an emergency alert using a radio beacon at around 6.30am.
A major cross-border rescue operation was launched, with aircraft from both Finland and Sweden scanning the vast frozen expanse in difficult weather conditions.
In a desperate attempt to make themselves visible, the stranded campers arranged chunks of ice into a huge “SOS” message on the surface below.
Aerial images released by authorities show the stark signal carved into the white landscape as the pair waited nearby.
After several tense hours, rescuers located the couple and reached them at around 11.40am.
Officials said the pair were cold but otherwise in good condition when they were brought to safety.
The Bay of Bothnia, the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea, regularly freezes over for months each year, but conditions on the ice can shift rapidly and unpredictably.
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