According to police reports on Monday, two Dutch explorers studying melting Arctic sea ice have apparently drowned after falling through thin ice.

On April 6, Philip de Roo and Marc Cornelissen left Canada to explore the North Pole and study melting ice. On April 29, the base camp for the exploration received an automated call to pick up de Roo and Cornelissen. The camp informed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which immediately sent out a rescue team.

Like Us on Facebook

But the plane was unable to land on the ice, which was deemed too thin to support its weight.

However, the researchers’ equipment and a sled dog named Kinmik were spotted in the vicinity of the 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 told AFP.

Reports state that the scientists were on a two-month mission to gather data for climate research in an area where summer sea ice cover was expected to be most resilient to warming.

Cold Facts, the organization that organized the trip for the Dutch explorers, revealed that rescue efforts on April 30 and May 1 were canceled because of the adverse weather conditions. The rescue operations started again on May 2, when the rescue team found Kimnik near the equipment of the explorers.

Rescue members say that Kinmik was hungry, but was otherwise in decent health. It is amazing that the dog survived the extreme weather conditions and continued to stay at the site of its companions.

Canadian authorities are hoping to recover the bodies of the Dutch explorers so that they can be given to their families.

TagsTwo Missing Dutch Arctic Explorers Likely Drown in Arctic, Arctic region, Arctic sea, polar region, north pole, Dutch Arctic Explorers, arctic sea ice, global warming