(3/19/20019) - Officials offered a stern warning to stay off the ice Tuesday after four fishermen were rescued from an ice floe on Saginaw Bay.
The rescue took place offshore from Linwood in Bay County during the afternoon. Rescuers say warming temperatures have made the ice extremely dangerous.
The four fishermen found themselves in trouble when they got caught on a piece of ice that broke away from the pack.
A U.S. Coast Guard air boat picked up two of them while a Good Samaritan rescued the other two.
One of the fishermen didn't know he was in trouble until help arrived to save him. Kevin Glaspell said he heard sirens and emergency crews race to the beach, but he thought there was a crash instead.
"I heard the sirens when I was out fishing, but I didn't know anything was going on," he said. "Then I seen everything down here and I asked this gentleman, I said, 'Wow, wonder what the heck's going on.' I didn't know the ice blew out."
Rescuers say the message after the incident is simple -- stay off the ice. Temperatures have been too high for too long and the ice is no longer safe.