More than two dozen people were rescued from a large ice floe that strong winds broke free from the shoreline of Upper Red Lake in northwestern Minnesota, officials said.
Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs told the Star Tribune that Kelliher fire and rescue personnel with help from a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources airboat brought to shore the 27 anglers who had been stranded on the sheet of ice for over three hours, beginning shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday.
No injuries were reported, and no one had fallen into the water, a Sheriff's Office statement read.
Riggs said that the ice on the northern portion of the lake is about 10 inches thick, more than twice what the DNR recommends as safe for people venturing out on foot.
Despite the ample thickness of ice, wind gusts of at least 40 miles per hour sent the floe into open water, he said.
"Every year we deal with this," the sheriff said. "There's always this potential, depending on which way the winds blow."
In late November 2022, about 200 anglers had to be rescued off an ice floe on Upper Red Lake.
