GRAND MARAIS, Minnesota — Ontario Provincial Police received a call for help Sunday afternoon from a group of stranded anglers in northern Minnesota, leading to the eventual rescue of the party of four.
One of the fishermen was suffering from advanced hypothermia, frostbite and dehydration after the group's snowmobiles got stuck in deep slush on the ice of Greenwood Lake, about 40 kilometres north of Grand Marais.
Unable to free their machines from slush up to 35 centimetres deep, the four men huddled in a cabin and accessed Ontario's 911 service through a Canadian cellular network.
The initial call went to the OPP, which then reached out to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.
As the stranded anglers were unable to pinpoint their location on the lake, emergency responders equipped with long-track snowmobiles and snowshoes had to search the 830-acre lake in limited visibility caused by wind gusting up to 80 kilometres an hour.
Sheriff's department snow machines also became stuck in the slush.
Several hours after the initial call for help, the injured man was taken to hospital by paramedics after a snowplowing contractor cleared an access road.
Noting the "extremely tough conditions" they encountered during the rescue mission, Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen said he was grateful the emergency responders "were able to get these folks out alive, and that all of the responders are going home safely."
