More than 100 anglers rescued from an ice chunk that broke free on a Minnesota river

RED LAKE, Minnesota. More than 100 people stranded while fishing on a chunk of ice that broke off a Minnesota river were rescued Friday, authorities said.

The fishermen were on an ice floe in the southeast area of ​​Upper Red Lake in Beltrami County, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis, when it broke away from the shore. An emergency call shortly before 5 p.m. said people were stranded more than 30 feet (9 meters) from shore, according to a statement from the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.

No one had fallen through the ice. But before lifeguards arrived, bystanders tried to pull some people out by canoe and four fell into the water, the sheriff’s office said.

They were taken back to the ice floe to warm up in a fishing shelter, the sheriff’s office said.

It took about two and a half hours to finally evacuate 122 people from the ice floe and no injuries were reported, according to the sheriff’s office.

State officials have been warning people to be careful about ice that is unusually thin for this time of winter.

The stranding came a day after a passenger died when a commercial transport vehicle crashed into ice on Lake of the Woods, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Tracked vehicles, locally called “bombers,” are used to ferry clients to and from ice fishing spots far from shore.