AN excursion company which left two Cumbrians with an agonising wait for help during a severe snowstorm have apologised for their actions.

Mountaineers of Iceland, who operate the snowmobile trips to the Langjökull glacier, the second largest ice cap in the country, took 34 people out on Tuesday, January 7.

But the day trip was met by delays and a major blizzard, with the company forced to call for help after getting into difficulty.

Cumbrian couple Barry Maxey and Michelle Smith from Dalston were among the group who were forced to dig snow shelters and huddle together with fellow holidaymakers while they waited several hours in the freezing conditions for help to arrive.

A major rescue operation was sparked that evening, involving about 200 people and groups including IceSar (Iceland Search and Rescue).

In a lengthy statement issued to The Cumberland News, Haukur Herbertsson, the CTO of Mountaineers of Iceland said the firm ‘deeply regretted the incident’, and added it was under internal investigation.

Mr Herbertsson said: “It was known that bad weather was expected at the end of the day, at about 3pm or later that afternoon.

“Mountaineers operate their own weather station on location and according to weather conditions from Met offices and the Mountaineers own weather station, the timeframe for the tour should have been finished before the storm and therefore a decision was made to operate the tour.

“This decision was based on the weather conditions and the timeframe for the itinerary.

“At 12.30pm the tour was supposed to depart but they were delayed by 20 minutes and thus a sequence of delays started which caused the exposure to bad weather later in the day.

“The decision to involve IceSar involved the process of a call at 7.32pm to the 112 Emergency Line to inform of an upcoming incident. At 7.59pm another call was made to ask for assistance.

“Roughly half an hour later, at 8.28pm the superjeeps from Mountaineers had already reached the group, from which time there was no immediate danger.

“A waiting period commenced until IceSar units arrived little after midnight.

“Between 4.15pm and 8.28pm, the group of customers was sheltered by the snowmobiles.

“The entire time they were under the care of the guides from Mountaineers and with constant radio communication with Mountaineers command centre. By 8.28pm, the group had reached safety.

“At that time there was nothing to do but wait for further assistance which was on the way.

“The employees deeply regret the incident and offer their sincerest apologies.

“We would also like to express our gratitude to IceSar and everyone else who helped in the operation.”