CLEVELAND — The U.S. Coast Guard and local agencies rescued 46 ice fishermen from an ice floe that broke free near Catawaba Island on Lake Erie Saturday morning, the Coast Guard said.
Authorities say an additional estimated 100 people were able to "self-rescue" themselves from the ice floe by swimming or walking on ice-bridges that were still connected to the floe initially.
The Marblehead Coast Guard station received a call from Ohio DNR representative shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday that approximately 100 people were stranded on an ice floe, and more than 30 other people were in the water.
The Coact Guard sent a pair of 20-foot airboats from the station, two helicopters from the Detroit air station and two helicopters from Traverse City to respond for a mass rescue, officials said.
Catawaba Island Fire, Put-in-Bay Fire and Southshore Towing also responded with airboats, while several other EMS crews assisted in the search and rescue efforts.
Coast Guard responders first arrived to the scene about 40 minutes after the call and there were no people in the water. Officials say those who had fallen in or intentionally entered the water to try to swim to land were all back on the ice or land.
Approximately 100 people were able to walk to shore via portions of ice that were still unbroken, but, as temperatures continued to rise, the ice broke into multiple separate ice floes. The remaining fishermen were rescued by the airboat crews and helicopter crews.
By approximately 11:15 a.m., everyone who had been stranded on the ice were rescued.
As temperatures begin to rise, the Coast Guard strongly urges people not to go out onto ice. Ice may look safe but it is difficult to determine the thickness visually and the increase in warm weather will continue to melt and weaken the ice.