British explorer rescued

Mill discovered polar bear tracks near to his camp

LONDON, England -- A British explorer marooned on an ice floe close to the North Pole is in Canada after being plucked from the ice by rescuers.

Dave Mill, a 34-year-old Scot, had been attempting to be the first man to walk to the North Pole solo.

Before being rescued he had to build a makeshift runway and avoid the attentions of a polar bear after becoming stranded miles from land.

Mill told the UK's Press Association news agency: "In the Arctic you cannot land an aircraft by computer, and I had to prove that the pilot would have a clear line of sight. It was an incredible piece of flying."

He was taken to Resolute Bay, Canada, where he had also previously e-mailed a digital photo of his runway so the pilot could see where he was expected to land.

Mill had faced being trapped on the ice once the gravitational pull of next-week's full moon turns the relatively flat surface of the ice floe into a treacherous series of mini ice-mountains, making it impossible for a plane to land.

He had eight days in which to travel 100 miles across the Arctic to reach safety.

He wrote in his Web site diary before being rescued: "I am proud of what I have achieved so far...I keep on thinking about Shackleton and Scott. I have equipment today that they could never have even dreamed of.

"My mobile phone is my life-saver. I am heading north in search of a pad of ice that will give me enough space to build a runway. The weather is not great. Dense fog and cloud cover also make satellite communications difficult, but I am staying in touch with everyone back home whenever I can.

"I am sleeping fitfully, partly because I know what lies ahead, and partly because of that brief encounter with polar bear tracks a few days back."

Determined to find a way to escape, he used his sledge to mark out a 400-metre runway in the ice.

He then took a digital photograph of it and e-mailed it via his mobile phone, to a rescue team in Canada.

The brainwave made it possible for rescuers in a ski-plane to land on the makeshift runway in the early hours of Monday to pick him up.