13 Dutch hikers rescued from mountains in central Norway

Thirteen Dutch hikers have been found in good health by rescuers on snowmobiles after being stranded in the mountains of central Norway, where helicopters were unable to reach them because of blizzards and worries about avalanches, police said today.
The hikers, aged between 25 and 40, had been stranded in a mountain valley about 2,000 metres high around 400 kilometres northwest of Oslo, they said.
They started from the village of Bjorli on February 21 and are scheduled to return tomorrow, police said.
"Several hikers have sent distress messages via satellite during the morning of Friday," Atle von Obstfelder, an operations chief for the Norwegian police's mountain rescue service, told AFP by phone earlier.

"A friend (of theirs) in Holland received a call that they were okay at about 1530 yesterday (Thursday), so something happened today (Friday) but we don't know when exactly, and we don't what."
Helicopter rescues were attempted twice today, but pilots were forced to turn around because of poor visibility and concerns about triggering avalanches, he said.