Cross-country skiers rescued from broken sea ice after creating SOS signal

Two experienced German hikers were rescued by helicopter from the Gulf of Bothnia on Saturday after the ice broke beneath their tent overnight, Finnish authorities report.

The pair, who were on a skiing expedition from Oulu to Luleå, lost nearly all their equipment when the ice fractured but remained in good condition, according to the Western Finland Coast Guard. Their rescue was made possible after they formed an SOS signal in the snow, which was spotted by a surveillance aircraft.

The Coast Guard received an emergency alert at 6:30 AM on Saturday, though the distress signal was sent via a non-standard device, making its exact location uncertain. Finnish and Swedish rescue helicopters and a small Finnish Border Guard surveillance plane were dispatched to the area.

The hikers were initially overlooked by the first helicopter due to their shelter among ice ridges, but were later located by the surveillance plane. A crew member first noticed the SOS text in the snow before identifying two small figures nearby.

“At that point, they had created the familiar SOS signal from a desert island scenario and were more visible on the open ice,” said Lieutenant Jussi Ikola of the Western Finland Coast Guard.

The couple, described as experienced adventurers, were airlifted to safety from the Ii archipelago area, about 150 kilometers off Finland’s coast. Ikola noted that while the region still has thick ice, strong winds had compacted it into towering ridges, forcing the hikers to leap between ice floes rather than ski conventionally.

Storm-force winds, reaching 26.6 m/s in gusts, likely contributed to the ice breakup. The Finnish Meteorological Institute reported that recent storms had halted icebreaker operations at times, pushing ice toward Kemi-Tornio and Oulu.

Despite the harrowing experience, the rescued hikers required no further medical attention.