Some 200 American fishermen were rescued on Monday, trapped in a huge chunk of drift ice on a large lake in Minnesota, in the northern United States.
It was around 11:30 a.m. Monday in Upper Red Lake, near the Canadian border, when rescue workers received a call that about 100 people had noticed that the patch of ice they were standing on to fish was not connected. more directly with the shores of the lake.
Arriving at the place, the emergency services “discovered a large plate separated (from the rest) by up to 27 meters of water, blocking the fishermen,” says the press release of the Local Police, whose images show a frozen landscape to the bottom. . the eye can see, see, the farthest shores unseen.
A makeshift pontoon deployed
Using drones in particular, emergency services detected a narrower crossing point, such as an isthmus, where they were able to place a makeshift pontoon to bring the fishermen to safety. Concerned that some, isolated in the ice, are unaware of the situation, the authorities have even activated a mobile phone alert system.
In the end, “about 200 people were evacuated,” Beltrami County police said in a statement posted on their Facebook page.
A northern Midwestern state dotted with bodies of water, Minnesota is nicknamed “the land of ten thousand lakes.” Ice fishing is a popular practice here in the winter.
Source: BFM TV
