Russian emergency workers deployed helicopters and hovercraft Sunday to rescue 675 fishermen stranded on an ice floe off Sakhalin Island.

It took the rescue teams almost eight hours to pluck the fishermen off the ice before they drifted across the frigid Sea of Okhostk in Russia's far east and hopelessly out to sea.

The fishermen were warned that strong winds could cause ice floes to break off the main ice pack. But they decided that Sunday would be their last day to ice fish before the spring thaw.

None of the fishermen are reported to be seriously injured.