The crew of the icebreaker Varma rescued people swept out to sea on a drifting ice floe 0 10

The port reported that on Saturday evening, February 21, information was received from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) that a large ice floe with two people who had gone for a walk with sticks on the sea ice was swept out to sea near Plienciems due to a crack in the ice.

Assessing the danger of the situation, a decision was immediately made to begin a rescue operation. The icebreaker Varma, a subsidiary of the Riga Free Port Authority — SIA LVR flote, which was closest to the incident site, was engaged in the search.

After five hours of intensive searching, around one o'clock in the morning, the crew of the icebreaker found both individuals swept out to sea and brought them on board.

As noted by the port, the search operations were complicated due to darkness and large ice accumulations that hindered navigation.

Around three o'clock in the morning, the rescued individuals were delivered to shore at the Riga port on the vessel Laura and handed over to medical personnel.