Stranded British adventurers rescued from Alaska ice

Two kayakers were airlifted to safety after ice along the Bering Strait became too thin to walk on and too thick to paddle through

While awaiting rescue, the pair were forced to wear survival suits and activate a locator beacon (Bering Strait 2016/ Facebook )

Two British adventurers have been rescued by American coastguards after becoming stranded off the coast of Alaska while kayaking.

Neil Loughton and James Bingham had to be airlifted to safety by US Coast helicopters after becoming trapped in ice while travelling across the Bering Strait, heading for the island of Little Diomede.

They intended to make the 26.6 mile journey by cross-country skiing and kayaking, but became stuck when the ice became too thin to walk on and too thick to paddle through.

In a description of the expedition on Mr Loughton’s website he said the pair had hoped to "arrange the first game of 5-a-side football on the moving sea ice".

While awaiting rescue, the pair were forced to wear survival suits and activate a locator beacon.

Writing on Facebook, the pair said they had "reluctantly" called the coastguard after their own helicopter support was unable to reach them due to poor weather.

They said: "In short there was too much open water and then what ice there was closed in around us after around 15 km kayaking south west.

"We battled on as best we could but the ice was too thick to kayak through but too thin to walk on. We smashed through for hours but after a time the ice extended 360 to the horizon all around us and there were no more water leads to follow."

A Hercules C-130 plane and two helicopters were used to rescue the men who were then taken to Nome, more than 100 miles away, the US Coastguard said.

Captain Mark Morin, commanding officer of Alaska's Air Station Kodiak, said: "This case involved the co-ordination and full court press utilising one of our C-130 airplanes and two helicopters, all of which consisted of a total of 24 crew members.

"Fortunately, the two survivors were well prepared with a SAT-phone and personal locator beacon, which made locating them easier for my crews."

On Friday, Mr Laughton, who is ex-Special Forces, tweeted: "Not ideal kayaking conditions! Ice was too thin to walk on so little choice on our journey across the Bering Strait."

Additional reporting by Press Association