Tolyatti Fisherman Rescued After 8-Hour Ordeal on Zhiguli Sea

A dramatic incident occurred in Stavropolsky District of Samara Region. An elderly resident of Tolyatti, who went fishing, lost his bearings and spent more than eight hours wandering on the ice of the Zhiguli Sea. A blizzard raged.

«It all started early in the morning in the village of Primorsky, where the pensioner came from Tolyatti for ice fishing. Despite his age, he managed to cross the Volga on foot over ice and snowdrifts, but as he approached the opposite shore near the village of Novodevichye in Shigonsky District, a snowstorm caught him. Visibility dropped, and the man was completely lost. In panic, he called his son by phone, who immediately drove to Primorsky and along the way called professional rescuers,» reported the public page «Okologoroda» (Around the City).

According to rescuers, the operation began around 16:00. The crew of the Samara Region Search and Rescue Service on the «Sever» hovercraft examined about 50 kilometers of water area before finding the fisherman. The search took two hours.

«The fisherman was found on an ice floe right off the shore of Novodevichye. Fortunately, the pensioner did not need medical help — he was just very tired and exhausted after the long trek,» said the Samara Region Search and Rescue Service.

He was taken back to Primorsky on the hovercraft and handed over to his son. The straight-line distance between the starting and ending points of the unfortunate fisherman«s route was about 30 kilometers.

Winter fishing, unfortunately, sometimes turns into a deadly hobby. In Samara Region, a case recently made headlines — a couple, fishing enthusiasts, went missing. Their bodies were found at the bottom of a small lake. Details of the tragedy are in our big article.