Two Ontario hikers found themselves in hot (and freezing cold) water this past weekend when the ice they were standing on near the grotto at Bruce Peninsula National Park broke away from the shoreline — leaving them stranded and drifting on a massive ice floe for roughly three kilometres. 

According to the OPP, the hikers were near Tobermory on Sunday afternoon when the piece of ice sheared away from the shore of Georgian Bay, and an eyewitness called police around 2:30 p.m. to report that they needed help. 

"There are some people out on the ice," says the caller to police in a video posted by OPP West Region on Twitter Monday.

"I guess they walked out there and now there is a huge separation of water between them and the mainland and they need help. They better hurry. This is getting wider and wider as we speak."

Two hikers near Tobermory had to be rescued from an ice floe, which sheared away from shore yesterday. OPP West Region wish to thank @JRCCTrentCCCOS and our local partners in Grey Bruce for their help in this operation. Some video courtesy the JRCC. ^dr pic.twitter.com/7BvYEgdRDe

— OPP West Region (@OPP_WR) February 22, 2021

The video shows the two hikers sitting out on the ice while waiting to be rescued, and police said a Royal Canadian Air Force C-130 Hercules plane from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton participated in the mission by helping to direct an OPP helicopter to the stranded individuals.

Members of @RCAF_ARC 424Sqn and @OPP combined to rescue two persons stranded on ice near Tobermory on Sunday on Georgian Bay. Bring whistle, radio (or cellphone), and wear #lifejacket when on lake ice. #GreatLakesWinterSafety pic.twitter.com/g3GE9rJm3a

— Trenton JRCC CCCOS (@JRCCTrentCCCOS) February 22, 2021

"We're just waiting. We were kind of panicking because the water came in so fast," one of the hikers can be heard saying to the OPP Provincial Communications Centre in the video while waiting to be saved.

"We didn't know what to do so we were kind of looking around us and realized how fast it was filling in between the shore and us and then we knew we needed help."

Fortunately, both hikers were rescued by the OPP helicopter and taken to Tobermory Airport in good health.