Three young men are safe after Mounties found them freezing in a broken-down truck on Clearwater Lake.

On December 30, two 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old from Steinbach were heading out to ice fish on Clearwater Lake when their truck broke down on the ice. Temperatures dropped to -38C with the windchill that night.

At 12:17 a.m. the next day, RCMP in The Pas was told a truck was stuck on the lake.

"They were stranded and ill-equipped for the plummeting temperatures," Mounties say in a media release.

Four officers, an off-duty paramedic, and a conservation officer went out to look for the group. They did not know where the men were.

lake map with pinThe trio was found on the ice in the northwest part of the lake. (Screenshot: Google Maps/RCMP Manitoba)

After searching the large area, the truck was in the northwest quadrant of the lake. The freezing temperatures caused minor injuries to the stranded men and some of the rescuers.