20 starving mammoth tusk hunters in dramatic rescue from Arctic island

An alert that the men could not leave the island due to a broken boat was received by the authorities on 7 October but bad weather prevented their immediate rescue. 

Six of the men were in a critical condition suffering from exposure and extreme cold when they were airlifted from Bolshoy Lyakhovsky, in the New Siberian Islands. The group were in different locations, complicating the rescue in the north of Yakutia - or Sakha Repubic - the coldest region in Russia. 

Tusk hunting has become popular and lucrative but many of the best sites are in Russia's remotest and most challenging regions. 

During the search from the air, rescuer Alexander Nakhodkin saw human footprints, and following the trail in the  north-eastern part of the island, they spotted a tiny tent covered in snow at the mouth of the River Alyy Urekh. 

Inside were four men who had been without food for ten days. They were in a 'critically depleted condition and could not properly move by themselves'. One was completely unable to walk.

The head of the rescue group Gennady Alexeev said: 'We were strictly limited in time, because of fuel economy. The helicopter  could wait for us no more than eight minutes. We landed at the tent, a few metres. 

'We grabbed the people, all of them were severely depleted. They saw us and started hugging, they were so happy. One even tried to kiss the rescuers.' 

Then the helicopter flew to the polar weather station Kigilyakh, where 11 more people were stranded. They were taken onboard in six minutes. 

But there was a new scare as the weather worsened, and pilot Valery Khachaturov ruled that because of an overload, the helicopter was too heavy to fly. He demanded that four should remain on the island and be rescued the following day. 

Alexeev said: 'No one wanted to leave the helicopter. They gripped the seats. No one wanted to stay on the island even for one more day voluntarily.' 

The rescuers themselves were ready to stay at the weather station, but four more people were waiting for help on Stolbovoy island and this option was excluded. The rescuers chose four people who were left behind. They were collected next day.

Two of those on Stolbovoy island were critically weak and could not move. In just three days, rescuers evacuated all 20 tusk hunters. All of them were passed to the doctors. 

The republic's rescue service said: 'It was planned that the people would leave by boat, but it broke. The first messages about the people trapped on the islands came on 7 October. A few days later a helicopter from a research vessel tried to find and rescue them, but the searches did not bring any result.'

The helicopter used in the rescue was sent from regional capital Yakutsk, and the operation was staged from Tiksi.