The U.S. military is working to release a 660-foot Canadian freighter that got trapped in the thick ice on Lake Erie earlier this week.
Seventeen people are aboard the Manitoulin, which initially got stuck in the frigid water on Wednesday morning following a wheat delivery, WIVB and CBC News reported. It got caught near Buffalo, New York’s shoreline, on its way back to Sarnia, a city in Ontario.
Icebreaking efforts −including the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay to Buffalo on Thursday − are underway, and crews reportedly continued on Friday.
“The situation that we are facing here on Lake Erie is that we have greater ice thickness than usual, so local ice breakers and local Coast Guard vessels don’t have the capability to break ice with that level of thickness,” U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Bridgette Baldwin told WIVB.
A view of the frozen Lake Erie during the polar vortex in Buffalo, New York on Jan. 31, 2019.
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A ‘significant’ amount of Lake Erie is covered with ice
Footage obtained by USA TODAY shows the view of the Manitoulin at a standstill in the middle of the lake. A striking photo gives a closer look at the chunks of ice surrounding the ship.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Lake Erie was about 80% covered with ice as of Thursday, according to Lansing State Journal, part of USA TODAY Network.
WIVB and CBC News reported that the crews on board are confirmed to be safe, and the cargo-carrying ship has enough food and provisions while officials are working to get them out.
“It’s not uncommon for this to happen when we have significant ice development,” Coast Guard civilian search and rescue specialist Paul Angelillo said in an interview with WGRZ. “It’s just the characteristics of ice, how cold it gets, how quick it freezes, the integrity of the ice, there’s a whole bunch of stuff that goes into it. It’s certainly not the first ship we’ve seen be calmed in ice in this area.”
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: U.S. Coast Guard works to free massive ship trapped on Lake Erie
