1 person has died hundreds of fishermen were stranded on a giant slab of ice.

[Botany]

Source: Sky News


9:24pm UK, Saturday February 07, 2009
One person has died after hundreds of fishermen were stranded on a giant slab of ice.


Warmer weather may have caused the ice on Lake Erie to break
An ice floe approximately eight miles wide broke away from the shore of Lake Erie, northern Ohio.
One person died after falling into the freezing water and 125 have now been rescued.
Initial reports suggested 500 people were stuck on the ice but the figure was later put at around 150.
The Coast Guard was called at about 10.45 am local time and boats and helicopters have begun to rescue the stranded.
Chief Petty Officer Robert Lanier told Sky News helicopters were checking the slab to make sure all the stranded people have been located.
"Our main thing is to make sure we get them off in a timely manner so no one panics and goes into the water, which is very cold at this time of year," he said.
Around 55 people had been rescued by mid afternoon.
Meteorologists have suggested warmer weather may have led to the ice breaking, which temperatures above freezing and strong winds weakening it.
Ice in the area can be up to 60 centimetres thick but Ohio Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Jamey Graham said there was no such thing as "safe ice".

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Ohio-Hundreds-Of-Fishermen-Stranded-On-Ice-Floe-On-Lake-Erie/Article/200902115218671

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Sheriff: 1 dead, 100 to 125 rescued from ice floe that broke from Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline

Updated: 2 minutes ago
Sheriff: 1 dead, 100 to 125 rescued from ice floe that broke from Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline

By JOHN SEEWER | Associated Press Writer
3:25 PM CST, February 7, 2009

OAK HARBOR, Ohio (AP) — One person who was among those stuck Saturday on a miles-wide slab of ice that floated away from the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie has died, while more than 100 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. He said 100 to 125 were rescued by late afternoon.

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 1,000 yards off shore.

More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-ice-floe-fishermen,0,1964299.story

[Botany]

2. I hope the coast guard & all get the job done

@ night in February floating on ice in Lake Erie is not a good thing.

[tan guera]

3. Dark Twist

While it's sad one person died, I can't help but think that the people might now know how the polar bears are faring.

[2Design]

8. yes the polar bears have it a lot worse n/t

[JeanGrey]

45. This has nothing to do with global warming.

Ohio has had a very harsh winter.

[2Design]

47. duh - it is an example of how a polar bear would feel when his slab of ice

floats away

[Delphinus]

48. That was my first thought too.

It breaks my heart.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. Wooden planks over cracks in the ice?

The incredible stupidity of people will never cease to amaze me.

[Enthusiast]

24. Ice fisherman become truly

obsessed with fishing through the ice. My friend went to his death fishing extremely thin ice. This thing on Lake Erie has happened several times before.

[du_grad]

51. They were out there again today....

...retrieving their equipment, even though the temperatures were above freezing all day. This happens every year up here, and I cannot help but think these guys are fanatical idiots.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090208/NEWS16/902080334

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I'm sorry to hear that, but

who in the world goes ice fishing when it's 50 degrees?

[Botany]

5. The ice was 2' thick

A large wind broke the ice slab loose

For Ohio we have had a really cold winter.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. All right, then - I retract my snark...

And, of course, we have cars and snowmachines falling into lakes and rivers every year.

[Botany]

7. Although walking over a "path" made of wood skids & planks

might not have been the best idea

But i am sure all those people planned for a weekend of ice fishing and
really wanted to go.

A bunch of ATVs and snowmobiles are on the ice flow .... they might soon become
part of the lake.

Lake Erie is very shallow too lots of bounce back from the under the ice .... It has been
years since it has frozen clean across.

[CLANG]

12. 2 inches seems a bit thin to me for being in 50 degree temps

I'm not an ice fisherman, but I'm sure around here in WI, they don't go out unless it is like 3-5 inches thick. I could be mistaken.

[DS1]

13. Learm the difference

between ' and "

[CLANG]

15. Thanks, I do know the difference when I'm sober...

[Jackpine Radical]

20. When was the last time that happened?

(You being a self-confessed cheesehead and all)

[CLANG]

21. Well, I'm usually sober when I'm at work from 7-3:30

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Why are you sober at work?

This is Wisconsin, right?

[CLANG]

34. Yeah, I guess I'm a masochist

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Well, at least you have an excuse.

[peacetalksforall]

14. feet

[Enthusiast]

26. Often in Ohio

the ice never gets thick enough so they go anyway. I know. My friend drowned doing it. I can remember ice skating on 1/2 inch thick ice as a child. My wife's cousin drowned skating on thin ice.

[maseman]

49. It's been blow freezing day and night for nearly three weeks

here in Ohio. It got up to mid 40s one day. That doesn't mean the ice is suddenly gone. It takes until July before Lake Erie warms up again.

[doc03]

9. That happens about every year on

Lake Erie.

[elocs]

11. It's too bad somebody died, but is ice fishing really worth dying to do?

Yes, this does happen every year and it will happen next year also. Isn't it worth erring on the side of caution and safety rather than risking a life to catch fish? Here in Wisconsin I can remember a 50 something year old man, a veteran ice fisherman, who fell through ice that he had no business being on. Fortunately he was saved, but you cannot also save people from their lack of common sense. This also goes for all the yahoos out there who drive their vehicles on the ice when then shouldn't and then others have to risk their lives to save them.

[Mithreal]

16. Fish = food and it is a healthier hobby than many otherwise. nt

[elocs]

17. A healthy hobby that is not worth dying for when you should not be on the ice.

Common sense is not always common.

[Mithreal]

18. Think someone should legislate a safety rule?

Two people recently died at a monster truck rally, one close to home, in Tacoma, WA.

We have people who regularly are killed walking alongside the road here in WA for lack of sidewalks. Ther are so many things dangerous that can be prevented. It is sad what was reported, but how many people have been fishing on this kind of ice without anyone reporting how many survived every day that something like this did NOT happen?

Anyway, I do not want a nanny state where we are protected from every potential danger that might otherwise bring someone joy.

[elocs]

22. I have lived in WI for 50 and most people have the common sense to know when to stay off the ice.

People who ice fish should clearly have the common sense to know when to stay off the ice, but every year some go ahead even when there are warnings to stay off. Unfortunately, you cannot legislate common sense and it is not as common as it should be.

[undeterred]

19. There were more fishermen out on Lake Mendota today

than any other day so far this season. I walked my dog on the island at the north end of Mendota, and all the snow was melting- it was 48 degrees in Madison today. I didn't hear of any ice breaking, but a couple more days at this temperature and it will be unsafe.

[surrealAmerican]

35. Is it safe to eat fish from Lake Erie?

[704wipes]

37. Lake Erie has good Wall Eye Pike, yum

But you can buy a meal of it in nearly any restaurant around there too.
Guess that shows what a fisherman I am....

But I can put a picture in this post...

[Peggesis1]

43. Um, yeah, mostly...

And the city of Toledo (among many other communities) gets its drinking water from the lake.

[merwin]

23. You probably have a higher chance of dying in a car/plane crash than ice fishing.

The ice was plenty thick, this was one of those flukes where a huge chunk that should have stayed where it was went moving out. I do agree with you on the driving vehicles part, especially when the ice is partially separated. That is just dumb.

[elocs]

25. I would probably be safe in predicting that someone where I live here in WI

will go through the ice next week. The temperature has been above freezing and in the 40s today and will be about this warm for the next 5 days, but you can bet that someone will think that it is so nice that they should go ice fishing with predictable results. I would also not be surprised to hear of a vehicle going through the ice on a manmade lake that has a lot of fishing shanties on it. If they're lucky they won't die.

[sandnsea]

28. I would probably be safe in predicting that someone where I live here in OR

will die in a car wreck next week.

And so?

People die ice fishing. People die ocean fishing. People die white water rafting. People die diving and swimming.

People die.

[izquierdista]

39. People who make poor choices

die earlier.

[safeinOhio]

29. I was out there yesterday

about 10 miles across the bay off Catawba Island. Where I was, one would never thing anything could go wrong after drilling through 18 inches of ice with a hand auger.
There were few walleye being caught, but the ones that were, were monsters. 10 to 15 pounds.
People die every year in boating accidents, sky diving, rip tides and bull riding. Who wants to live forever?

[ovidsen]

30. Hundreds stranded as ice rescue continues.

Source: The Port Clinton (Ohio) News Herald

With temperatures pushing into the 50s, Saturday wasn’t a good day for ice fishing (on Lake Erie) — and some people who tried to do so near Magee Marsh learned that the hard way.

More than 300 people off Locust Point near Oak Harbor ended up stranded after an ice bridge collapsed and had to be rescued in an effort that involved more than 10 different agencies between Lucas and Ottawa counties, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard.



Read more: http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20090207/UPDATES01/90207011

---

Improving the gene poll probably NOT occur because the 'victims' of this 'accident' will probably all be rescued and, therefore, allowed to procreate. Seriously, read some of the quotes in this article. Some of these people have the IQ of cold beer (which I'll wager had been brought offshore in copious quantities).

For folks who haven't spent time in the Great Lakes in wintertime, this happens ALMOST EVERY YEAR, usually on Lake Erie, which (because it is by far the shallowest of the Great Lakes) nearly always freezes over in winter. It was in the 50s along Ohio's coast today. Guess what? The ice melted.

No, I really wouldn't let them die. But institutionalization sounds like a good idea.

edited to correct source.

[Blue_In_AK]

31. Nobody in their right mind ice fishes when it's 50 degrees.

That's just nutz.

[zbird]

32. The idiots encountered open water and built a bridge to get to the ice?

Now they have all the emergency responders tied up trying to rescue the morons. Plus, it looks as if the icefishers are spreading out, now covering over a 5 mile area.

Beyond stupid.

[Dr.Phool]

33. I guess one died. Everyone else was rescued.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/ice_rescue_over_but_one_fisher.html

[bulloney]

46. Some of those clowns said they'd like to go back out to the lake to fish today.

In this day of tight state and local budgets, the county sheriff and coast guard should take the total cost of conducting this rescue, divide it by the number of survivors and bill the idiots. The Ottawa County sheriff was going nuts describing the stupidity of these people. I don't blame him.

This scenario looked a bunch of he-man sporstman wannabes from the city going out in their he-man four-wheelers and weather conditions be damned. The four-wheelers and other equipment were left on that ice when they're rescued. Now, they have to find a way to retrieve it. They're racing against the clock because the temperatures will be unseasonably warm for the next several days.

These people SHOULD know that when temperatures get up to where they were Saturday, plus, Lake Erie is shallow and susceptible to ice shifts when winds are as strong as they were Saturday, you're playing Russian Roulette.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

38. Yes, but on the bright side...

Fewer fish were senselessly murdered today because of this.

[BEZERKO]

40. I was born and raised and lived my whole life in Georgia, this discussion is alien to me.

Back in the early 90s, I don't remember the exact year, the temperature dropped to zero. A shallow creek almost completely froze, so we were able to walk on it. There were a few pine saplings about two or three inches in diameter poking through the ice here and there. Two curved sticks, slippery shoes, four pines that served as make-shift goals, and a small block of ice serving as the hockey puck, and my first and only real hockey game was on! We had such a blast, I was Wayne Gretzky for a day because I figured out how to stop on a dime and change direction at will by grabbing and holding on one of the pines to stop or spin around on. Goddamn that was fun! I'm within months of being fifty, and I can count on one hand the number of snow or ice days we've had here in my life, okay, maybe two hands six or seven tops. The sun cuts harder and the weather seems so much hotter than I remember even in the seventies, not that long ago. Sorry, didn't mean to make light of a tragedy here. Sometimes, I'm envious of the winters you get in places like Minnessotta, Wisconsin, etc. But not in Chicago with the wind, no way.

[shaniqua6392]

41. We need to start charging a fee to rescue these idiots when they do stupid stuff.

Then take the rescue fees collected and split the amount amongst the rescuers that saved their lives. I think the rescuers would love to have a bonus in their pay for risking their lives for the stupidity of others.

[Algorem]

42. Dummies On Ice.Maybe it could be a musical.

Comical dopey American characters.Human tragedy.ATV choreography.The heartbreak of hypothermia.It'll be great.Coming soon to a skating rink near you.

[Thor_MN]

44. I grew up on Lake Superior. I watched a dozen skating rinks we had cleared

on the ice disappear, headed towards Michigan. Not every year did we have ice thick enough to go out on, but lots of years, we would go out with shovels and clear off rinks to skate on. It was not uncommon to spend a day skating and go out the next morning to find a foot wide, frozen in, crack running right through the rink. (I've always wondered how the ice knew to screw us over by cracking right through the middle of our rink.) Sometimes, you would clear a rink, spend the rest of the day skating on it and wake up to find nothing but open water.

Our rule of thumb was never go out on the ice unless it had been there several days to freeze to the shore, it had to be at least eight inches thick or so and listen to the ice. If it's booming, it's time to go home. Despite living in Minnesota my entire life, I will never drive a vehicle onto the ice of any size lake. Must be due to growing up on Superior, I know 2 foot ice will support a car, but I'll pass.

[roamer65]

50. Lake Superior teaches one respect for open water.

Many shipwrecks lie at the bottom of the Great Lakes because they pushed the "shipping season" a bit too far. Superior is definitely nastier, as storms form and really come in quick on that lake. At least from my experience.

[Xenotime]

52. pugs and fundies will still say global warming isn't an issue.