This is the dramatic moment ice breakers rescued a stranded vessel on a frozen Lake Erie in New York. The motor vessel Manitoulin, a 663 ft (202 m) ship, was trapped in more than two feet of ice a mile off the shore of Buffalo on2.

It’s unclear how long it might take to cut the Canadian freighter Manitoulin out of the Lake Erie ice, which is thick this year.

The 663-foot Manitoulin has been trapped in the ice fields off the shore of Buffalo, New York since Wednesday.

The Coast Guard suspended ice-cutting operations for the night after making some progress and moving the ship slightly Thursday evening.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a freighter is on the move after it was freed from ice that trapped it in frozen Lake Erie for days.

A Canadian cargo freighter which was stuck in a frozen lake for days was freed on Saturday, Jan. 25. The Manitoulin, a 663-foot vessel carrying 17 crew members, became stuck in ice on Lake Erie off the coast of Buffalo, New York, after delivering a shipment on Wednesday.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A Canadian freighter with 17 people on board got stuck in the ice on Lake Erie while departing Buffalo, according to the Coast Guard, which arrived with icebreaking equipment Thursday to begin freeing the vessel.

The lake freighter Manitoulin is immobilized by thick ice in Lake Erie outside the Buffalo River breakwall as it awaits the arrival of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay which is en route from Erie, Penn. to help loosen the vessel, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP)

At 5:37 p.m., the Marblehead crew rescued three people and Catawba Island Fire crew rescued one person from the ice floe. The Air Station Detroit helicopter conducted an overflight shoreline search and ensured no other stranded ice fishermen were in distress.