20 Tourists Rescued After Being Stranded on Arctic Ice Floe

About 20 tourists were safely rescued after becoming stranded on an Arctic ice floe that broke off from the mainland and drifted out to sea.

Canadian and foreign tourists on a tour the Arctic Kingdom Expeditions were trekking on Baffin Island, in Canada's far northern Nunavut province, when the ice broke off from the mainland, according to the Canadian Press.

Graham Dickson, president of the tour operation, said a 50-kilometer long slab of ice broke away from shore overnight, setting the tour group adrift.

In an update on the tour operator's website, Dickson said the group was camped for the night when the ice broke. The floe ultimately traveled 12 kilometers away from its original position before everyone was rescued. No injuries were reported.

Dickson suspected strong winds and gravitational pull from the recent supermoon as the reason why the ice broke free, the Canadian Press reported.

Initially 30 people were stranded on the ice floe, but a group of 10 whale hunters from an indigenous community were reportedly able to escape on their own. The 20 remaining stranded were rescued by helicopter.

That the ice broke away from the mainland may not have been a surprise for Dickson and his operation. The online overview of the $11,000, eight day "Great Migrations of the Northwest Passage" excursion indicates that ice regularly breaks away from the mainland during the summer.