MOSCOW (AP) -- Rescuers brought more than 900 ice-fishermen to shore from drifting ice floes in Europe's largest lake, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday.

Six people drowned and seven cars crashed through the ice during the two-day rescue operation, according to preliminary data of the local emergency situations department, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. It did not say whether the victims were fishermen or rescuers.

Ministry helicopters and private boats picked up 152 fishermen overnight, and 759 more were plucked off the ice in Lake Ladoga on Monday, said Marina Ryklina, a ministry spokeswoman. She said that the rescue effort had ended.

Ryklina said Monday that 26 ice-fishermen were rescued in a separate operation in the Gulf of Finland.

Ice-fishing is highly popular in Russia, both for sport and as a food source, and thousands of anglers become stranded on drifting floes every year. Many of them are carried out to sea before rescuers can reach them.

Lake Ladoga, which is northeast of the northern port of St. Petersburg, covers 6,700 square miles.