BREAKING THE ICE

27 People Scooped Off Floating Ice Chunk in Green Bay After Shore Breakaway

The group, many of them ice fishers, spent roughly 90 minutes adrift before the rescue.

At least 27 people were rescued by first responders on Saturday after becoming stranded on a large chunk of floating ice off Wisconsin’s Green Bay, authorities said. No injuries were reported among the group, many of whom had been ice fishing before the ice broke off from the shoreline. The Brown County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the 27 stranded people spent roughly 90 minutes adrift before being rescued. The agency added that a potential culprit for the “destabilization of the ice” may have been a barge traveling through the bay. A man on his first ice fishing expedition told local outlet WLUK-TV that the noise of the ice shove’s breakage sounded like a gun being fired. “We thought it was interesting, got out of our shanty, took a look and people were yelling on the ice, ‘We’re separating,’” he said.