KRASNOYARSK, January 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russian emergencies officials in the Siberian region of Irkutsk said Tuesday a rescue operation is under way to save a group of people, presumably fishermen, stranded on drifting ice in Lake Baikal.

A ship with rescuers was sent on the mission following a telephone call from tourists camping ashore, who reported spotting five or six people and two cars on an ice floe at about 9 o'clock GMT Tuesday morning.

Several helicopters of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry are on standby to help, should the rescuers traveling by water fail to pluck the stranded fishermen off the ice before dawn.