London, Jan 22 (IANS): A British and two Dutch students survived for eight nights on a mountain in Turkey by eating insects and sheltering in a cave after they went missing, media reported Thursday.

David Mackie, Frisko De Vries and Merije De Groot, all 21, lost their way in the bad weather and flooding, during what was supposed to be a one-day hiking trip Jan 11, the Daily mail reported.

They finally managed to get signal on mobile phone five days later and made an emergency call to seek help. By then, the handset had just two per cent battery left.

The trio, who were studying in Istanbul, were rescued and airlifted to safety Jan 19.

Speaking afterwards, Mackie, from Nottinghamshire in Britain, said: "That phone call probably saved our lives."

The group survived on rainwater as they attempted to follow a dry river bed to safety, before retreating to a cave when the riverbed suddenly flooded and nearly washed them away, the report said.

The students, however, did not suffer any serious injuries.

Mackie told reporters in Turkey that the trio chose to fly to Antalya because the area offered some of the best hiking routes.

He added: "We got to a point where a valley stopped us from going any further. We tried to turn back but the riverbed was full because of the rain, so we couldn't turn back. After that, it was a matter of trying to cross the river, trying to eat what we could."

"This was seven days without (proper) food. We ate a few ants and things like that and drank spring water from the mountains."

He added that the group could hear traffic and the call to prayer from a nearby town, but were "so high up that there was no way down."

The ordeal left the trio "extremely hungry and exhausted", he explained.