2 students rescued/ice floe

[Lee Borgersen]

Two college students rescued from ice floe on Lake Superior offshore from UP


Peninsula rescued two men Thursday night from an ice floe on Lake Superior about 600 yards from shore.


The U.S. Coast Guard reported that the men were walking on ice along the shore in Marquette when the section of ice they were on broke free and started drifting away from land. Coast Guard crews received a call of two people adrift on a large ice floe at 6:40 p.m. local time.

A Coast Guard ice rescue team responded along with local emergency crews. The ice rescue team was able to walk out about 400 yards from shore on the ice, and then used a 12-foot inflatable rescue craft to cross about 200 yards of open water to reach the men, both 19 years old, the Coast Guard reported. The Marquette Mining Journal reported that they are students at Northern Michigan University; their names were not released.

The ice rescue team gave life jackets to the two men -- who were wearing shorts, T-shirts and gym shoes -- and brought them aboard the rescue craft. They were brought back to shore, examined by medical personnel and released, authorities said.



floe offshore from Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Mich., on April 2, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Gerard Gagnon)


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