125 rescued, one dead in Lake Erie rescue

[kickingfrog]

From the Globe and Mail

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ernational/home

 

 

 

125 rescued, one dead in Lake Erie rescue

Associated Press

 

February 7, 2009 at 4:17 PM EST

 

OAK HARBOR, Ohio — One person who was among those stuck Saturday on a kilometres-wide slab of ice that floated away from the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie has died, while 125 others were rescued, authorities said.

 

The victim fell into the water while searching with others for a link to the shoreline, Ottawa County sheriff Bob Bratton said. Others tried CPR before the person was flown to a hospital and pronounced dead, Bratton said.

 

Several ships and helicopters from Toledo and Marblehead, and from Detroit, were sent to rescue the people from the 8-mile-wide ice floe.

 

Authorities said fishermen apparently used wooden pallets to create a bridge over a crack in the ice so they could go farther out on the lake Saturday morning. But the planks fell into the water when the ice shifted, stranding the fishermen about a kilometre off shore.

 

Ice on western sections of Lake Erie can be more than a half metre thick, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Randel said. He said it started to crack as temperatures rose above freezing this weekend and wind gusting to 55 kilometres an hour pushed on the ice.

 

Ice fisherman who regularly visit the lake have said this winter's thick ice has lured more people to the lake this year.

 

“There was a heck of a city out there for the last week and a half, two weeks,” said 71-year-old Oak Harbor resident Peter Harrison, who has lived on the shore for 40 years.

 

Ohio Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Jamey Graham said the state annually warns fishermen that there's no such thing as “safe ice.”

 

Even in very cold weather, the ice on western Lake Erie is often unsafe because currents can easily cause the ice to shift. Firefighters in communities along the lake are trained for rescues from the ice and are often on guard when temperatures rise

[Spiel]

....That's twice today.

[kickingfrog]

Just up-datin'.

[Joeytier]

I'm shocked at the multitude of startlingly ignorant comments in reply to this article. This one in particular struck me as mind-blowing:

Ice fishing is one of the most boring sports in the world, most guys use it as an excuse to get away from the wife and kids and get drunk. You would think these guys could afford to buy some fresh fish from the supermarket? I guess not, maybe its a sign just how bad the USA economy really is. At least one hundred cast aways fishing on a breakaway chunk of ice think it's worth risking their lives for.

And this one...

And of course taxpayers will pay for this error in judgment, again!

I'm at a loss for words as to how someone could legitimately feel that way.

[waterwolf]

huge statements from such small minds

Edited February 8, 2009 by waterwolf

[topraider]

These fellas engineered a makeshift bridge out of pallets to get from one icefloe to another. When there were warm offshore winds blowing. After a national weather service warning.

 

That's dumb. Even if there were 100 of them. Send them the bill.

[BillM]

If you are stupid enough to use pallets to make a bridge to go further out on the ice, you deserve a Darwin award.

 

Use some common sense.

[irishfield]

Lets put this in prospective. You park your car in the normal parking lot and the beaten path to miles and miles of ice.... as far as you can see... has a pressure crack in it that someone has thrown a plank/pallet etc across to make walking easier. No big deal..... and off you go until a perfectly directed wind takes one end of that 5+ miles of ice and starts swinging it out opening the gap, while you are unaware fishing on 2 feet thick ice.... 'till someone decides to leave or get on ! Many sledders apparently drove off at the other end.

[kickingfrog]

Another consern... all of their atvs & equipment was left on the ice "flow" and there does not appear to be any plan to get the stuff off.

 

 

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ernational/home

Edited February 8, 2009 by kickingfrog

[Joey]

I heard one guy who was there say on the news that they didn't realise anything was wrong until their lines down the hole started to move to the left, as if being taken by a current. Of course it was the ice moving and not the current.

 

I don't understand all the negative comments either. Many a time I've watched people at Gilford walk across a plank or pallet to get from the solid ice on shore, across the open water to the solid ice on the lake, myself included.

 

Can't believe all the holier than thou's around here

 

Joey

[Whopper]

Another consern... all of their atvs & equipment was left on the ice "flow" and there does not appear to be any plan to get the stuff off.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ernational/home

This same thing happened about ten years ago, the Coast Guard will not rescue equipment only people. Now private salvagers will recover equipment for a price but it won't be cheap. Seems to me a fee of 2-3 thousand dollars is what it cost back then to have your truck recover then.

 

Can't believe all the holier than thou's around here

 

Oh now Joey

Edited February 8, 2009 by Whopper