The fishing vessel Atlantic Enterprise, as shown in a handout photo, rescued two men from Sweden who were stranded on an ice floe after their small plane crashed. (Canadian Press)

Two men from Sweden who managed to land their small plane on ice and leapt free of the aircraft before it sank in frigid waters south of Baffin Island were rescued Monday by a fishing vessel.

The captain of the vessel that picked them up says both men were grateful to see the fishing ship approach after spending 18 hours stranded on the ice.

"They were crying and all that. They were happy to see the boat," said Bo Mortensen, adding that both men appeared to be in good condition, other than some minor frostbite on their feet.

A Cormorant helicopter airlifted the men to Iqaluit several hours after they were brought on board the vessel. An official with the airport in Iqaluit said they were taken to the local hospital for medical assessments.

At the time the men were picked up, it was -13 C in Iqaluit, but Mortensen said the weather was generally good.

'They were a little bit frostbitten on the feet, but they were in good shape.'— Fishing boat captain Bo Mortensen

The veteran fishing captain said his crew picked the two men up and brought them aboard in the morning, where they were wrapped in warm clothing and telephoned their families to say they were safe.

"They looked good. They were in good shape. They were a little bit frostbitten on the feet, but they were in good shape," said the captain.

Speaking from the bridge of his fishing vessel Atlantic Enterprise, Mortensen said his crew managed to spot the two men waving on the ice after they received a request for assistance from the joint rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax.

The centre had the men's position from a mayday signal they had sent as they crash-landed the plane on Sunday.

Life raft went down with plane

Mortensen says they were wearing neoprene survival suits and life-jackets, but the men told him they had lost their life-raft when their plane sank.

When the pair came aboard, they described the terrifying moments after landing on the relatively thin ice.

"The plane sank right away when it came down," said Mortensen.

"They landed on the ice and the window cracked on the plane and they managed to get out. Just after they got out, the plane sank so fast they couldn't get the life-raft out."

The captain identified the men as Oliver Edwards, who was born in Australia but lives in Sweden, and Troels Hansen, originally from Denmark but who is now also a Swedish citizen.

"I feel good now that we've got them," said Mortensen, whose vessel was fishing for shrimp when they received the call for assistance.

In the home office of the fishing ship in Lunenburg, N.S., there was elation at the news of the rescue by the vessel, with a crew of 29 on board.

Peter Matthews, a spokesman for Clearwater Seafoods, the owner of the Atlantic Enterprise, called it "fantastic news," and said people in his office were near tears upon receiving word the rescue had been successful.

The search and rescue co-ordination centre says the men were travelling in a twin-engine Cessna Skymaster from Wabush, N.L., to Iqaluit, Nunavut, when it lost both engines over the Hudson Strait.