More than three dozen tourists had to be rescued in the middle of an intense snowstorm in Iceland on Tuesday, Jan. 7, after their snowmobile group became trapped overnight on a treacherous glacier due to whiteout conditions.
Dramatic video captured by the Kopavogur rescue crew shows their ice-crawling vehicles driving through blinding snow across the Langjökull Glacier in search of the tourists, using only digital maps to chart their way around a network of icy crevasses.
The wind can be heard howling throughout the video.
The tour group of adults and children included several American and Brazilian citizens, BBC reports.
Several tourists said they feared frostbite or death during the ordeal, which lasted several hours into the night.
“We actually did think that we were gonna die out there,” U.S. tourist Nicole Smith told BBC.
Approximately 200 rescue workers were dispatched to save the stranded tourists, the Reykjavik Grapevine reports.
No one was injured aside from a few cases of frostbite, according to Edwvard Williamsson, a member of the rescue crew who spoke to Storyful.
Weather warnings were reportedly in place at the time.
Police are investigating the matter.