Ship Is Free After Unexpected Stop in Lake Erie's Ice

A freighter was on its way to Canada on Sunday after it was freed from ice that trapped it in a frozen Lake Erie for days, the US Coast Guard said. The Manitoulin, a 663-foot Canadian vessel with 17 people on board, got stuck in the ice on Lake Erie on Wednesday after it dropped off a load of wheat in Buffalo and was heading back to Canada. It was finally freed Saturday, per the AP. The ship wasn't damaged, and its crew is safe, officials said.

Freighters in the Great Lakes often encounter surface ice in the winter, but they sometimes run into ice that is too hard or thick to break through. Two US Coast Guard vessels and a Canadian Coast Guard ship teamed up on the rescue. The freighter was escorted through nearly 20 miles of ice from Buffalo until it got to free water, according to Lt. Kyle Rivera of the Coast Guard. The ship has to travel the rest of Lake Erie and then go up the Detroit and St. Clair rivers to Canada, where it will spend the rest of the winter.

(More Coast Guard stories.)