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600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk

By The Siberian Times reporter
29 January 2020

Major rescue operation on the island of Sakhalin went on for two days.

Some of the fishermen made their way back to safety on ice floes, using ice diggers as oars. Picture: Sakhalin Ministry of Emergencies 

Last people were delivered to shore at the Mordvinova Bay in the early hours of 29 January. 

Six hundred men ignored warnings from the local ministry of emergency and went ice fishing off the southern coast of the island of Sakhalin.

They got cut off when ice cracked 2 kilometres away from shore, with tide and wind widening the gap between the two parts of the ice field to more than 10 metres. 

Some of the fishermen made their way back to safety on ice floes, using ice diggers as oars.

Water temperature in that area of the sea of Okhotsk is -2C.

600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk


600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk


600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk
600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. Pictures: Maksim Marchenko, Sakhalin Ministry of Emergency


Another ice floe with a group of fishermen on it (and the catch!) was taken across the water by rescuers pulling a fishing line.

The last group of 120 people was evacuated by three boats and a hovercraft. 

There were 15 rescuers involved in the evacuation, no injuries or frostbites were reported. 

‘Several hundred men decided to try their luck against common sense and despite multiple warnings about the treacherous ice’, said Sakhalin ministry of emergency in a statement after the end of the rescue operation.

A week ago 300 fishermen called for help after getting stranded on a large piece of floating ice next to Sakhalin’s Cape Svobodny. 

The weather in Sakhalin is mild at -1C. 

PADDLING TO SAFETY ON ICE FLOES, VIDEO COURTESY MAKSIM MARCHENKO

600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk


600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk


600 fishermen taken off floating ice in the Sea of Okhotsk


Comments (5)

Must be a market for the fish; or a means to put food on the table. What type of fish were they fishing for?
Carol Oliver, Golovin, AK
07/02/2020 01:26
0
0
Luckily all these men went fishing in heavy gear and could survive the cold, but not if they wound up in the water. The pictures of a small group taking chances on a small ice floe made me cringe. Ten minutes in that water , if you can stay afloat, and you will die from exposure.
Aarky, Ft Smith, USA
30/01/2020 06:44
2
0
Ice is boat,that's very interesting!
姚剑申, 巨鹿/中国
29/01/2020 19:42
2
0
Result is, no injury and no frostbite. That's good.
These kind of events will occur in future also as it's human nature to be in the struggle and to welcome risks...
Farooq Ahmad , Kashmir India
29/01/2020 18:55
1
0
every year the same. but they never listen...
Morak Benedikt, Moscow
29/01/2020 16:32
7
0
1

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