The men, who had been running out of food and other supplies, were evacuated by a Russian rescue helicopter from Wrangel Island in the northern Siberian sea, 500km west of Alaska.

The three - an Australian cameraman, a Japanese producer and a Russian scientist - had been sheltering in a shack.

Attempts last week to reach them by helicopter and snowmobile were abandoned because of snowstorms and fierce winds.

Efforts were also hampered by the almost continuous Arctic night. At one point it was thought they would have to stay all winter in the hut, depending for their lives on airdrop supplies.

The team was down to two days of buckwheat grain and tea. They were rationing dwindling fuel supplies for heating. Outside the temperature was minus 30C; inside it was around freezing.

All three were in reasonably good health when they were rescued, although the Japanese producer is suffering from an eye complaint and may need surgery.

The men were taken to land on the far north-eastern peninsula of Chukotka, and were due to go on to Moscow.

They became stranded while filming wildlife more than 100km from the only settlement on Wrangel Island - also known as Vrangelya Island.

They had been scheduled to leave in mid-October after filming polar bears and seals, but decided to stay on, using unexpectedly clear conditions for more filming when the weather turned.