The United States Coast Guard was called into action in Ohio on Monday when twenty people were left stranded on an ice floe on Lake Erie in frigid temperatures.
All twenty of the stranded people were rescued safely, and the Coast Guard shared that no injuries were suffered during the incident.
Airboats from a Coast Guard station in Marblehead, Ohio, were used to rescue nine of the people stranded on the ice, while local authorities rescued four others, a post from the Coast Guard on social media shared.
The last seven were able to repair their airboat and make it back to land on their own, a press release shared.
Authorities were notified of those stranded on the Great Lake at around 10:21 a.m. EST on Monday, the Coast Guard shared. The group was about half a mile from shore on their ice floe — a floating sheet of ice that breaks from a larger formation.
The Coast Guard shared that those stranded may not have even known they were on an ice floe when it started to drift offshore.
“Some individuals may be unaware that they are on a drifting ice floe,” the Coast Guard said on social media. “These can be unpredictable and dangerous, especially in areas subject to winds or currents, leading to drift into open waters.”
By 12:41 p.m. EST, everyone who was stranded had made it back to shore, the agency shared.