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Video: An aerial view of the people stranded on the ice drift (Credit: Island Air Taxi- Dustin Shaffer)

CATAWBA ISLAND, Ohio (WJW) – Eighteen people were rescued Sunday after being stuck on an ice drift on Lake Erie, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

An ice floe reportedly broke away near Catawba Island, Ohio, around 1 p.m. while people were snowmobiling. Rescue crews and a good Samaritan with an airboat were soon on the scene. A helicopter was able to retrieve seven people from the ice, while others got into the Coast Guard and good Samaritan’s boats.

Authorities said no one needed medical treatment.

  • Photo courtesy Island Air Taxi/Dustin Shaffer
  • Photo courtesy Island Air Taxi/Dustin Shaffer
  • Photo courtesy Island Air Taxi/Dustin Shaffer
  • Photo courtesy Island Air Taxi/Dustin Shaffer
  • Photo courtesy Island Air Taxi/Dustin Shaffer
  • Photo courtesy U.S Coast Guard

The National Weather Service issued a warning Saturday to stay off the ice because there was a strong possibility of it breaking off and drifting toward Canada.

“There’s no such thing as safe ice, but people can mitigate their risks,” Lt. j.g. Jeremiah
Schiessel, of Coast Guard Sector Detroit, said in a statement. “Always be sure to tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back. Great Lakes ice is unpredictable, and conditions can change fast.”

A viewer of sent in a photo he took of a large crack in the ice he saw while in flight from Cleveland to Detroit on Saturday.

(Photo credit: Benjamin Buehner)

Last month, 27 people had to be rescued when a chunk of ice broke from the shore near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The ice sheet floated about a mile away before the everyone was safely taken off.