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IQALUIT - Christmas came early for two Swedish men who miraculously survived after their plane crashed off the southern coast of Baffin Island.

Oliver Edwards and Troels Hansen were on route from Wabush, N.L., to Iqaluit Dec. 7. when the plane's two engines failed.

The men made a controlled crash landing on an ice floe about 160 kilometres south of Iqaluit. They exited the plane through a broken window just in time to watch the aircraft sink into the freezing waters.

"Last night around 5 p.m., we received a mayday that a Cessna Skymaster had lost one engine and the second engine," said Jeri Grychowski with Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax.

"About 100 nautical miles south of Iqaluit, that's when communication was lost."

After losing contact, the JRCC called for a Hercules aircraft, a Cormorant helicopter and two aircrafts out of Iqaluit to aid in the search.

In the end, it was a shrimp fishing vessel out of Lunenburg, N.S., the Atlantic Enterprise, that picked up the two men the following morning.

Soon after, the search and rescue technicians were hoisted onto the boat to do a medical assessment of the survivors, who had been stranded out on the ice for 18 hours trying to keep warm.

Neither of the men sustained serious injuries thanks to their survival suits, although one of them had mild frostbite.

They were taken by helicopter to the Qikiqtani General Hospital, where they stayed for several days.

Upon hearing of their rescue, Iqalummiut were overjoyed.

"Although they do not live here, we are very grateful that they survived," said city councillor Simon Nattaq through a translator. "They are very lucky to be alive."

While still in the hospital, local businesses, including the Frobisher Inn and NorthMart, provided the survivors with clothing and offered them food and lodging for the rest of their stay.

"They have nothing" but the survival suits on their back, said Carlos Montenegro, general manager at the Frobisher Inn. "We felt as a community we should come together to help these people.

Paul Sherman, assistant general manager at the inn, was amazed by what the men had gone through.

"It's something that I couldn't even fathom myself, being in that circumstance," he said.

"It's a life-changing experience for sure. I thought whatever we could do on our end to make recuperation go smoothly, let's try to do what we can do."