Fri, 03:43 27 Feb 2009 GMT17

 

U.S. fishermen on ice floe rescued, one dead
07 Feb 2009 22:15:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates throughout)

CHICAGO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Some 150 fishermen were rescued from an ice floe in wind-whipped Lake Erie on Saturday after it broke loose from the shore due to warmer weather, officials said.

One fisherman fell through the ice during the four-hour rescue effort and died on the way to a hospital, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Another man who fell through the ice was not injured.

The Coast Guard, which used boats and helicopters to rescue the men, said it was surveying the area to see if there were other people on floes.

The ice broke shortly after 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT), an official for the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department said.

The fishermen were near Crane Creek State Park on the western shore of Lake Erie in northern Ohio when the floe drifted into the lake.

The temperature in the area was around 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) on Saturday morning, up from a low of 7 degrees Fahrenheit (-14 degrees Celsius) on Friday morning.

Early reports had the number of fisherman stranded on the ice as high as 500.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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