Coast Guard Cutter Rescues Man Walking in Middle of Lake

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The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay, home-ported in Cleveland, rescued a 25-year-old man attempting to walk across Lake St. Clair, March 5, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Josh Zike)
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay, home-ported in Cleveland, rescued a 25-year-old man attempting to walk across Lake St. Clair, March 5, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Josh Zike)

CLEVELAND — The Coast Guard rescued a man attempting to walk across Lake St. Clair Thursday morning and is transporting the man to Algonac, Michigan.

The man rescued is a 25-year-old American citizen, who stated he was attempting to walk from Detroit to Toronto.

At about 9:30 a.m., the lookout assigned to Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug home-ported in Cleveland, spotted a man walking in the middle of frozen Lake St. Clair, about one and a half miles from Seaway Island. The ice-rescue team aboard the cutter deployed on foot to check on the man. Upon reaching the man, the rescue team questioned the individual, treated the man for symptoms of hypothermia, and assisted him aboard the cutter.

The man was taken to the municipal pier in Algonac, where he was met by emergency medical service personnel and transferred to their care.

"Most of us joined the Coast Guard to protect life," said Lt. Joshua Zike, commanding officer of the Neah Bay. "Our primary mission during the winter months is breaking ice to keep commercial traffic moving, but preserving life will always come first."

The man was not dressed appropriately for the conditions out on the lake, was not wearing any flotation gear and had no form of communication.

This rescue conducted by the crew of the Neah Bay is the first rescue of a person conducted by an ice-rescue team deployed from a Great Lakes cutter in more than 4 years.

The cutter arrived at the docks in Algonac at 12:40 p.m. 

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