Over 100 Anglers Saved in 5th Rescue This Month on Minnesota Lake

Upper Red Lake, MN (KROC-AM News)- Once again emergency responders were called to a northern Minnesota lake to rescue dozens of stranded anglers.

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The latest rescue occurred Friday afternoon. It’s at least the fifth rescue to happen on the lake in December.

A news release issued by the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office says emergency responders were dispatched to the southeastern part of Upper Red Lake on the report of an ice floe detaching from the shoreline shortly before 5 p.m. Initial reports indicated about 100 anglers were stranded with roughly 30 feet of open water between the ice and shoreline.

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Officials learned of an attempted bystander canoe rescue before their arrival. Four individuals in the canoe fell into the water and were brought onto the ice floe where they warmed up in a fish house.

The county’s emergency management agency sent an alert to make the anglers aware they were on an ice floe and also passed along evacuation instructions.

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Emergency crews evacuated four fishermen around 6:40 p.m. then determined everyone else stranded on the ice floe had to be taken back to shore about an hour later, the news release says.

All 122 anglers were returned to shore by Friday. No injuries were reported and the only people to fall into the water were the individuals who fell out of the canoe, officials say.

So far no serious injuries or fatalities have been reported on Upper Red Lake. Friday’s ice rescue comes one day after a man drowned in open water on Lake of the Woods.

The DNR issued a statewide warning before Friday’s ice rescue regarding unstable ice conditions on Minnesota’s lakes.

The forecast for the Red Lake area calls for temperatures to stay below freezing for most of the coming days. Officials hope the colder weather will stabilize ice conditions on the popular lake.