Russia rescues 536 fishermen from ice floe

Russian authorities blamed the stranding incidents on fishermen, ignoring safety warnings and going for ice fishing despite the danger of being stranded on ice floes.

Mordvinova Bay:Russia's emergency services on Tuesday evening rescued 536 ice fishermen after they got stranded on a giant ice floe that broke off the island of Sakhalin in eastern Siberia, officials said.

Around 60 more people were able to get back on the shore on their own, emergency officials reported.

The rescue operation lasted for almost seven hours.

According to some of the fishermen, by the time they had been rescued the rift between the ice floe and the coast was already 200 meters (656 feet) wide.

It is the third time in a week that emergency services in the Sakhalin region had to rescue ice-fishermen stuck on drifting glacial masses.

Last Wednesday, some 300 people got stranded on an ice floe, and on Sunday 600 more fishers did.

Local authorities blamed the incidents on fishermen ignoring safety warnings and going for ice fishing despite the danger of being stranded on ice floes.

With inputs from AP