A polar bear cub is comforted by its mother as they drift miles from shore on a rapidly shrinking iceberg.
The future may look bleak for the bears as they balance perilously on the ice 12 miles from land.
Amazingly, however, experts say the pair most likely made it back to the shore unharmed.
It is thought the mother and her young cub, aged around nine months, had gone out hunting seal and climbed onto the chunk of ice - known as an ice floe - to cool down.
The drifting ice shrank to just a few yards wide as it drifted down the Olga Strait of Svalbard, Norway, forcing the frightened bears to huddle in the middle.
Photographer Eric Lefranc, 40, captured the scene while cruising the area in temperatures of about five degrees Celsius.
He said: "As we got closer we could see a polar bear mum and her cub trapped on a little and unstable ice floe.
"These bears looked very distressed.
"The mum was desperately trying to keep the ice floe stable and to protect her little cub who was scared and moving a lot.
"Polar bears are usually good swimmers but the ice floe was 12 miles from the nearest coast and drifting away in the strait.
"In addition, the cub was only a baby - around nine months old and probably not strong enough to swim that far.
"If she was able to leave her baby, the mother would probably have survived but our guide was quite pessimistic about the survival of the cub, who probably drowned.
"Some of the members on our trip were in despair. They wanted to take the bears with us and bring them to the nearest land which was obviously impossible."
However, animal expert and BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham said he believed the sad scene may well have had a happy ending.
He said: "Being so isolated, their fate may look doomed but I think there will have been a happy ending.
"Polar Bears have four-inch thick blubber to keep them warm, big paws that act as flippers and waterproof fur - that means they are incredibly well suited to the water.
"An adult can swim up to 50 miles at five or six miles per hour so the mum here should have no trouble completing the 12 miles back.
"The cub will struggle more and certainly faces an exhausting swim but I imagine it will have been OK if they paced the journey.
"Cubs usually doggy paddle behind their mum, clutching onto their back, so they are shielded from the current.
"The biggest threat to these two is actually hyperthermia, as their body temperature could rise and that could kill them if they swim too fast.
"It is likely they have gone out hunting for seals and climbed onto the ice floe to cool down.
"They have then found themselves drifting, possibly at some speed."
The Polar Bear is native largely within the Arctic circle, where they eat seals.
An adult male weighs up to 680 kg (1,500lb) and is up to 3m (9.8ft) long. An adult female is about half the size.
