Dutch researchers drown after falling through thin ice on Arctic mission
Two explorers were on a two-month mission to gather data for climate research in an area where sea ice cover was most resilient.
Two Dutch explorers studying melting Arctic sea ice have apparently drowned after falling through thin ice, Canadian police have said.
Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo were last seen on April 6 heading north from Resolute - Canada's northernmost outpost.
Their base camp received an automated distress call last week, and immediately sent an aircraft to pick them up.
But the plane was unable to land on the ice, which was deemed too thin to support it.
The researchers' equipment and a sled dog were spotted close to the transmitter beacon, near a hole in the ice. But the two men were nowhere to be found.
"It is very likely that they drowned [after] falling through the ice," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Yvonne Niego said on Monday.