Cessna Skymaster down in Canadian Arctic

By: Flying-A - 10th December 2008 at 03:28

Two very lucky flyers:

After Crash, Pilots Survive on Ice Floe

AOL

(Dec. 9)

- Two men survived huddled together "like penguins" on a sheet of sea ice after their plane's engines failed Sunday over open water in Canada's far north.

The men were forced to crash-land their Cessna Skymaster over the Hudson Strait, just south of the Arctic Circle, the BBC reported.

Oliver Edwards-Neil, 25, of Australia, and Troels Hansen, 45, of Sweden were able to issue a Mayday call before the plane went down.

Edwards-Neil, who lives in Sweden, told Australia's Herald Sun about the harrowing moments after the crash.

"Once we had impact with the water, within 30 seconds the aircraft itself was filled with water to the roof," he said. "We were forced to hold our breath and I had to break my window."

Their plane and all their survival gear sank into the strait's icy waters.

"I was shivering non-stop," Edwards-Neil said. "We kept each other going and supported each other, and we tried to keep each other warm and sheltered each other from the wind... like penguins."

The men spent 18 hours on the ice sheet before the crew of a fishing boat rescued them Monday.

"They were crying and all that. They were happy to see the boat,'' fishing boat captain Bo Mortensen told the Canadian Press. "They were a little bit frostbitten on the feet, but they were in good shape.''