A freighter was heading to Canada on Sunday after he was released from the ice that caught him in an Erie frozen lake for days, said the United States Coast Guard.
The Manitoulin, a 663 feet Canadian boat (202 meters) with 17 people on board, stuck in the ice at Lake Erie on Wednesday after he left a wheat load in Buffalo, New York, and returned to Canada, said The Coast Guard. He was released on Saturday.
The ship was not damaged and its crew is safe, authorities said. Cargueros in the big lakes are often found with surface ice in the winter, but sometimes they find ice that is too hard or thick to make their way.
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An ice ship from the US Coast Guard. Uu. He had been working since Thursday to help La Manitoulin, and on Saturday, the authorities said a second ship arrived to help free the freighter. The Canadian coast guard also had a ship that helped with the effort.
The freighter was escorted through almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) from ice from Buffalo until it reached Agua Libre, according to Lieutenant Kyle Rivera of the Coast Guard.
The freighter has to travel the rest of Lake Erie and then upload the Detroit and St. Clair rivers to Canada, where the rest of the winter will spend, Rivera told The Associated Press on Sunday.
“There is ice through other parts of the lake and the rivers, but we have another cutter who will take it there,” he said.
A helicopter of the United States Coast Guard was on the scene making flights to monitor the situation. A third ship from the United States Coast Guard was scheduled to arrive on Monday, in case Manitoulin remained stuck.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press