A special operation to rescue three fishing vessels frozen in ice in the northern Sea of Okhotsk will begin on January 2 when Russia's ice-breaker Magadan will reach the scene of the incident, Russia's Transport Minister Igor Levitin said on Saturday.
"There are 555 people there...three big vessels. They've got into drifting ice. Two ice-breakers have set off to help them. The first one - Magadan will approach the site by 2.00 a.m. on January 2. The second is Makarov ice-breaker, it will arrive in two days," Levitin told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Connection with all of the troubled vessels has been established, the transport minister said.
He emphasized that the life of the fishermen is out of danger.
NOVO-OGARYOVO, January 1 (RIA Novosti)
