A sheet of ice holding fishermen on Lake Erie broke loose in windy weather Saturday morning, sending many of them scrambling to safety but leaving nearly four dozen stranded on the floe for three hours more than a mile offshore until emergency crews could rescue them.
About 100 of 146 fishermen out on the ice were able to grab their gear and make it back to shore before any additional ice broke off, The Blade of Toledo reported.
"Thank God the Coast Guard was here for us," Adkins, of Akron, Ohio, told The Blade . "You live and you learn, I guess." The Coast Guard launched helicopters out of Detroit, and along with local rescue personnel, sent airboats to retrieve the stranded fishermen, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Brian McCrum. Forty-six people were rescued, he said, including two fishermen who were hoisted by helicopter and medically examined.James Gibelyou said he was too far from shore to make a run for it as he and others painfully watched the ice break.
Gibelyou said that he noticed the weather was getting warmer Friday and that ice conditions were beginning to change. The fishermen should have called it quits then, he said, and "not come out this morning."
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