The United States Coast Guard of the United States of Great Lakes rescued 10 people on Sunday – including three children – who were trapped in blocks of ice that had separated from the shore of Edgewater Park in Cleveland.
Rescue officers and the US Coast Guard received a call at around 2:30 pm on Sunday about a group of people who had walked onto the ice of Lake Erie, which then split into two separate blocks of ice.
Initial reports said that there were only a few people being rescued, but that it was later increased to 10 people, including seven adults and three children.
The Cleveland Harbor Station USCG ice rescue team and local agencies were on site. Detroit Air Station also sent a helicopter to provide support.
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The USCG said its team rescued six individuals via an ice skiff. The other four were escorted off the ice by the Cleveland Fire Department.
Lake Erie near Edgewater Park in Cleveland.
(WJW)
Over the years, many people have had to be rescued from ice floes that have spread out on Lake Erie. In March 2019, the Coast Guard and several other agencies rescued 46 ice fishermen from an ice floe, NBC News reported.
In 2009, 134 fishermen were arrested, then saved by the U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement agencies in a rescue that made national news, the Associated Press reported.
Hours before Sunday’s rescue, the USCG Great Lakes, citing Cleveland’s National Weather Service, warned of dangerous weather and urged residents to “avoid getting on the ice and take steps to protect themselves and help themselves.”
The NWS Cleveland warned that “dangerous ice conditions are developing in the next few days. It is advisable to stay away from the ice on Lake Erie, as areas of ice can break off the coast.”
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“You can do us a big favor by saying to the public, ‘Don’t walk on ice,'” said a Cleveland emergency personnel captain quoted by Cleveland 19. “The lake is not frozen.”