ISTANBUL 

Russian emergency services rescued 139 fishermen stranded on a drifting ice floe in the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of Sakhalin Island in the Far East, authorities said Wednesday.

The Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) said all of the fishermen were safely evacuated after the ice floe broke off near Sakhalin, an island in the north of Japan.

“A total of 139 people have been rescued from the ice floe. The operation involved 31 personnel and 17 units of equipment,” EMERCOM said in a statement on Telegram.

The regional emergency service said a Russian EMERCOM Mi-8 helicopter airlifted 44 people, while 32 were evacuated using rescue boats and another 63 were transported by volunteer boats. The remaining fishermen managed to reach the shore on their own.

Authorities reported that a 10-meter (32-foot) crack formed in the ice in the village of Malki to the mouth of the Dolinka River, making evacuation necessary. A helicopter and a hovercraft were deployed in the rescue operation.