Post by coolplanet on Jun 26, 2013 9:40:14 GMT -5
20 Tourists Stuck on Drifting Arctic Ice Floe
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Jun 26, 2013 2:56 AM CDT
www.newser.com/story/170077/20-tourists-stuck-on-drifting-arctic-ice-floe.html
Twenty tourists are getting a more extensive look at the Canadian Arctic than they'd bargained for. The group, including two Americans, was on an expedition on Baffin Island in Canada's far north when the chunk of ice they were on broke free and drifted away, the CBC reports. As the group awaits rescue, the 30-mile-long chunk of ice has moved around 8 miles out to sea. A group of hunters on another chunk of ice that broke free managed to make it back to land.
The Canadian military says the group is safe—even though the ice floe is starting to deteriorate—but they are in an area so remote rescue helicopters will take a long time to get there. In the meantime, "they've been able to locate the area and the folks that are stranded on the ice floe, and they've been able to drop survival rescue kits, which include large life-rafts as well as other survival equipment," a military spokesman says.
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Jun 26, 2013 2:56 AM CDT
www.newser.com/story/170077/20-tourists-stuck-on-drifting-arctic-ice-floe.html
Twenty tourists are getting a more extensive look at the Canadian Arctic than they'd bargained for. The group, including two Americans, was on an expedition on Baffin Island in Canada's far north when the chunk of ice they were on broke free and drifted away, the CBC reports. As the group awaits rescue, the 30-mile-long chunk of ice has moved around 8 miles out to sea. A group of hunters on another chunk of ice that broke free managed to make it back to land.
The Canadian military says the group is safe—even though the ice floe is starting to deteriorate—but they are in an area so remote rescue helicopters will take a long time to get there. In the meantime, "they've been able to locate the area and the folks that are stranded on the ice floe, and they've been able to drop survival rescue kits, which include large life-rafts as well as other survival equipment," a military spokesman says.
