Dramatic moment five-man BBC film crew are airlifted to safety after their boat started to take on water off of Iceland
- Incident occurred north of Iceland’s northern Hornstrandir peninsula on Tuesday
- The Icelandic Coast Guard winched the five film crew members into a helicopter
- Local authorities said boat was starting to take on water, prompting distress call
- Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue sent two boats and a helicopter
- What the crew was filming is unconfirmed, but earlier this year a crew of five people obtained permission from authorities to film an arctic fox documentary
The Icelandic Coast Guard has airlifted five BBC crew members to safety after their boat started to take on water, with a video capturing the dramatic rescue.
The incident took place just north of Iceland’s northernmost peninsula of Hornstrandir, just miles from the arctic circle, on March 16.
The Icelandic Coast Guard winched the five film crew members to safety after their vessel lost engine power around the Westfjords area.
While the reason for the film crew being in the area has not been confirmed, it was reported in January that the BBC had obtained permission to film a documentary about arctic foxes in the Hornstrandir nature reserve.
The Icelandic Coast Guard had to airlift five BBC crew members to safety after their boat started to take on water. Pictured: A still from a video showing the rescue
The Icelandic Coast Guard winched the five film crew members to safety after their vessel lost engine power around the Westfjords area
The local authorities said the boat was starting to take on water, prompting the BBC workers to call for help.
Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue sent two boats and a helicopter to the scene while other vessels in the area were alerted in case further help was needed.
A fishing vessel called ‘Otur IS’ in the town of Isafjorour started to tow the stricken boat to port before being relieved by one of the rescue ships.
Two pumps were also placed on board to remove the excess water and keep it afloat until it could reach land.
The local authorities said the boat was starting to take on water, prompting the BBC workers to call for help. Pictured: A person is lifted to safety into a helicopter
Meanwhile, the helicopter flew the rescued BBC workers back to the mainland where they were reportedly uninjured.
As Iceland does not have a navy, security operations are carried out by the coast guard, known as Landhelgisaesla Islands.
Rescue operations are also carried out by the volunteer Icelandic Search and Rescue organisation funded as a charity.
Two pumps were also placed on board to remove the excess water and keep it afloat until it could reach land. Pictured left: A man is winched to safety. Right: A boat in the water below
According to Iceland Monitor, the BBC was given permission by the Environment Agency of Iceland to film a documentary about the Arctic fox in the Hornstrandir nature reserve.
It was reported that filming would mainly be done on land, with the use of drones, and that five people would be working on the documentary.
Among the crew, Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir, PhD, who is an ecologist at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, would provide scientific expertise.
The Monitor reported that the filming would be done in three phases, the first being from March 12 to April 12, with a second and third in summer and then September.
The documentary is set to be part of a series about predatory animals in the world’s northern regions.
The BBC has been contacted for comment.