A Canadian freighter, with 17 people on board, became stuck in the ice on Lake Erie while leaving Buffalo, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which responded with icebreaking equipment on Thursday to begin efforts to free the vessel.
The 663-foot Manitoulin had recently delivered a load of wheat and was on its way back to Sarnia, Ontario, when it got trapped in ice that quickly formed in sub-zero temperatures along the Buffalo shoreline. The ship remained stuck there until Thursday, creating a striking scene on the lake, surrounded by thick ice and snow.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Bridgette Baldwin told CBS affiliate WIVB-TV that the ice on Lake Erie is unusually thick at the moment, “so local icebreakers and local Coast Guard vessels don’t have the capability to break ice with that level of thickness.”
“We just haven’t had a bad winter in quite a while. So now that we’ve had one and people haven’t seen this for a bit, they’re like ‘what’s going on?'” explained Paul Angelillo, a search and rescue specialist with the Coast Guard in Buffalo.
Freight Ship Stuck in Buffalo Waters
While Great Lakes freighters are usually able to navigate through surface ice in the winter, they sometimes encounter ice that is too thick or hard to break through, he added.
The Manitoulin sustained no damage, and the captain and crew were reported to be safe, the Coast Guard confirmed. By Thursday afternoon, a Coast Guard cutter had begun breaking up the ice around the ship.
However, the efforts to free the ship were paused for the night and were scheduled to resume on Friday morning, according to the Coast Guard.
The incident occurred a day after a U.S. Coast Guard crew rescued two individuals stranded on an ice floe in Saginaw Bay, Michigan. An ice rescue team successfully reached the two people and brought them safely back to shore, with no injuries reported.
