More than 100 people rescued from ice floe in Minnesota lake
More than 100 people were safely rescued from an ice floe that detached from the shoreline of a northern Minnesota lake Friday night, authorities said.
The ice chunk had broken off from a fishing area on the southeastern shore of Upper Red Lake, the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Emergency workers were dispatched for an ice rescue just after 5 p.m., local time.
Before they arrived at the scene, bystanders attempted to rescue those on the ice using a canoe. However, their attempt failed and four individuals fell into the open water and were brought back to the ice floe.
The first four people were rescued around 6:40 p.m., Sheriff Jason Riggs said. By 7:37 p.m., officials determined all 122 individuals on the ice floe had been safely brought to shore.
No injuries were reported and only those four people who fell from the canoe ended up in the water.
On Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Enforcement Division warned residents that ice conditions across the state had “changed markedly in recent days.”
Even though temperatures have started to drop, “ice conditions will remain poor until there’s a string of cold days to form new, clear ice,” the department said in a message shared on Facebook.
People were advised to always wait for “at least four inches of new, clear ice before walking out.”
