The Russian emergency ministry announced on Wednesday that some of the 300 Russians stranded in the Sea of Okhotsk, in the Western Pacific, refused to be evacuated.

The ministry posted a message on Telegram saying that 109 fishermen were rescued by helicopters and boats, but others refused to be saved.

The ministry stated that "some extreme sports enthusiasts will not leave without a catch, under any circumstance."

The video showed fishermen walking away from rescuers on snowy ice. Why so many fishermen gathered there was not clear.

The ministry reported that a 10-metre-long (33-foot) ice break had formed between the Russian village of Malki and the mouth of Dolinka River, in the Sakhalin Region, leaving the fishermen adrift on the Sea of Okhotsk.

The Sakhalin region, comprising the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island, has long and cold winters, sometimes lasting over five months. Reporting by Lidia Kelley in Melbourne, editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry

(source: Reuters)