An ice floe detached on a lake in northern Minnesota on Friday evening, causing over 100 fishermen to be rescued.
Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office reports that 122 fishermen were stranded when Upper Red Lake’s ice floe detached.
During the rescue attempt, four people fell into the water but they were safely brought back onto the floating ice and warmed in a fishing shelter, according to police.
Those four were the first to be rescued.
During the rescue, emergency responders realized some fishermen may not have been aware they were on the ice floe, so the emergency management team sent an alert with instructions of how to evacuate, it’s unclear if it was county-wide.
On Thursday, Col. Rodmen Smith, director of the DNR Enforcement Division warned citizens of “unseasonably warm weather” with very few areas of the state having the ice thickness that’s typical this time of year.
Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs said on Thursday, “Most years, the ice would be thick enough by now for vehicles and wheelhouses, and we’d be seeing a steady procession of them heading north,” he said.
“But this year isn’t ‘most years,’ and the ice is changing constantly. It’s absolutely vital that anyone who heads out checks the thickness frequently, pays close attention to the weather, and has a plan in case the worst happens and they wind up in the water.”
BREAKING: Rescue efforts are underway for dozens of people stranded on an ice floe that broke off on a Minnesota lake. https://t.co/DH6sXnV5bh
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 30, 2023
Commenters on social media noted that fishermen are rescued every year from the ice around this time,
My annual Christmas time in Minneapolis marking how many fisherman are rescued from unsafe ice!https://t.co/Ot7eF3eTJd
— CRE_Rant (@CRE_Rant) December 30, 2023
According to police reports, no one from the rescue was seriously injured.
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