USCG file photo by Petty Officer Tom Atkeson
The local fire department rescued another man who was stranded on a different ice floe in the same area.
The high number of rescues demonstrates that the rapidly changing air temperature is making ice in Saginaw Bay and the remainder of the region unstable and extremely dangerous for recreational users.
An HH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit was nearby on a different mission but flew over the area to verify that no one else was stranded. They found a piece of ice about 11 miles long rapidly drifting away from shore, but they reported there did not appear to be anyone on it.
The Coast Guard advises all ice-sport enthusiasts to check the weather prior to going out on the ice and to recognize that warming temperatures can make for extremely unsafe conditions.
