Coast Guard rescues man on Lake Erie
3/23/2014MONROE — A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a man early Saturday after he became stranded on a drifting floe in Lake Erie.
The Coast Guard sent a helicopter from Detroit and an ice rescue team from Toledo about 2:30 a.m. after watch officers overheard radio communications about an all-terrain vehicle rider on the floe offshore from Sterling State Park in Frenchtown Township.
WATCH VIDEO: Coast Guard video of rescue
Officers contacted the rider on his cell phone and learned he wore a full exposure suit but had no other survival gear except his phone and a global-positioning device, according to the report.
The man’s position was relayed to the helicopter crew, which found him on an floe completely surrounded by open water, hoisted him aboard and flew him to Custer Airport in Monroe to be met by medical personnel.
The man’s identity will not be released, the Coast Guard said.
The man is to recover the ATV so that it does not become an environmental or safety hazard, the Coast Guard said. If he does not, he could be fined.
The incident should serve as a reminder, the Coast Guard said, of weakening ice, and anyone venturing onto the ice should never do so alone and should carry emergency tools, including a cell phone or marine-band radio in a waterproof container.