Modern technology saved two brothers in eastern Turkey from an ancient peril when a pack of wolves surrounded them as they trudged through the snow to their village, Anatolian news agency is reporting.

The pair had abandoned their car in the far-eastern agri province after it became stuck in the snow which has swept the country in recent weeks.

As the pack approached they escaped by climbing a telegraph pole, and clung to it with eight wolves hungrily howling at its base.

But one of the men managed to use his mobile phone to summon help. The wolves fled when gendarmerie officers arrived at the scene and fired shots into the air, the news agency reported Saturday.