Iceland helicopter mountain rescue for Pembrokeshire men

Michael Hughes and Dayne Stone thought they would be able to get down from the mountain easily

Two Welsh tourists had to be rescued from a remote mountain in Iceland by a team of 30 climbers plus a helicopter after they became stuck with no equipment in freezing conditions.

The men from Pembrokeshire set off on an "ice climb" on Sunday night.

But after reaching the top realised the only way down was via a "frozen-over waterfall". The alarm was raised by a friend waiting at the bottom.

The incident, reported by local media, happened on the Botnsfjall mountain.

Dayne Stone from Pembroke explained in a Facebook video post that he and his friend Michael Hughes from Penally had set off on a climb up an ice wall at about 20:00 GMT Sunday.

"We went through a gorge and started climbing. It was getting steeper and steeper and we were climbing up vertical ice," he said.

"We thought when we got to the top, there'd be a nice path down. It didn't quite work out that way."

The pair are travelling with another friend in Iceland

There was only ice sheets and a frozen waterfall below, which was when the pair realised they would not be able to get down in the dark.

The men who had only taken torches with them, shone them at a friend waiting at the bottom who raised the alarm.

A team of climbers could not reach them before they were rescued by helicopter at about 03:00 from an ice cliff.

Mr Stone said the experience was "pretty savage" and they had been "freezing" despite local media reporting they were "well equipped".

The pair had believed there would be a path down the other side of the mountain

Local media reported how rescue teams had found it "very difficult" to get to the men