Kevin Fox and Alfie How stepped over a crack in the ice, heading to deeper water and biting fish.
When they looked back later, the gap had widened to nearly 10 feet.
“I just started screaming: The ice is opening. The ice is opening,” said How.
Emergency responders rescued a total of 23 anglers on Sunday after they became stranded on Georgian Bay near Owen Sound when the ice shelf they were on separated from shore.
Two Ontario Provincial Police helicopters and an AirORNGE air ambulance picked up all the anglers from the ice, or, in a few cases, from the water, in an operation spanning more than two hours.
All of the stranded anglers were safely brought back to shore, some with minor injuries, including hypothermia. No one needed to be hospitalized, police said.
Hundreds watched on shore as helicopters hovered above the bay and as the small silhouettes of the stranded anglers could be seen drifting on the ice out to open water.
News of the rescue operation spread on social media as sirens blared, with first responders from Owen Sound, Hanover, North Bruce Peninsula, Grey County, Bruce County, and Wellington County gathering at Cobble Beach golf club, where they staged the rescue operation.
Out on the ice, the stranded anglers huddled together, facing their mortality.
“We just sat down as a group and said this could be the end,” How said.
“We all thought this could just be it. This might be it,” Fox agreed.
Fox said his small fishing group stepped out onto the ice at around 8 a.m. near the Hibou Conservation Area. He knew the weather would be mild, and the winds were blowing southwest, but Fox, who has been fishing his entire life and operates a successful fishing-themed YouTube channel, said they were taking precautions.
“We crossed a couple of good cracks, so we were kind of already aware these cracks could open and were trying to keep an eye on them,” he said.
When the fish weren’t biting closer to shore, Fox and How walked out into deeper water where others were set up and fishing on the ice. That’s when the ice shelf separated and began to float out into open water.
“We were in a bad situation straight away,” said How. “If we didn’t get off that ice, we were . . . ” his voice trailed off.
Someone in the now stranded group of anglers received a text message on their phone saying others had made it off the ice shelf and onto the shore on the other side of the bay, so the group began to run.
“But by the time we got there, the ice was already separated from shore,” Fox said.
Fox’s group turned around to head back. They passed a few others looking for a way off the ice, and as they did, the ice shelf broke again, and those people began floating away from the main group, Fox said.
Those were the people the OPP later rescued from the water, Fox said.
As the anglers began drifting further into open water, waves started to break the ice at the edges of the shelf.
“It was being eroded,” Fox said. “It kept getting smaller, and smaller.”
They knew they couldn’t swim to shore.
“Just one minute in that water and . . .” How’s voice trailed off again.
“We had float suits, so I could float, but I wouldn’t survive,” Fox added.
Fox and How began to run again, looking for safe ice. They both fell through a couple of times, their feet and legs plunging into the cold water. How’s pockets were still full of ice water as he retold the story while warming up at Cobble Beach’s restaurant later that day.
“You’re thinking it’s life or death at that point, and you’re not really thinking. Your head is all over the place. It’s far, if you’re walking here and it starts to break over there, then you’re walking miles to get back to safe ice,” said How. His step counter had over 48,000 steps recorded after the ordeal.
The stranded group eventually found the thickest patch of ice on the shelf and huddled together.
“We had to hunker down and say a prayer,” How said.
They watched as the OPP and ORNGE helicopters began to circle above, and as one helicopter swooped down to pluck the people they had passed, who were now nearly totally submerged in the water.
Fox said the group still on the ice wasn’t certain they’d be rescued because of the heavy winds now ripping over the bay.
“And we were concerned they’d run out of fuel, and if they ran out of fuel, we’re running out of time,” Fox said.
When rescuers in an OPP helicopter arrived and hovered just above the ice shelf, Fox said the conversation turned to who would be rescued first, with the helicopters having to make multiple return trips for the entire group.
Fox said he began asking the others how old they were, with the youngest members of the group getting onto the helicopter first. Those with float suits, like Fox, stayed behind and waited. Fox said he was in the last group to be rescued from the ice.
Fox said he knows people will be upset that experienced anglers put themselves in that situation in the first place, and said he understands.
“We tried to take precautions. We were looking at the winds and the depth where we were fishing. We were hoping that if that crack did open, it would hit the shore, and it just didn’t happen,” he said.
He said he and all those rescued Sunday were more than appreciative of the work by the first responders and those at Cobble Beach, including Victim Services, who were offering support and rides home.
“Anytime you’re doing stuff like that, it puts our lives at risk, and it puts their lives at risk, the rescuers. People could get injured and hurt,” he said.
Emergency responders included OPP Aviation, OPP Marine Unit, Inter Township Fire Department, Owen Sound Fire Department, Hanover Fire Department, North Bruce Peninsula Fire Department, AirORNGE, Grey County Paramedic Services, Bruce County Paramedic Services, Ministry of Natural Resources, Grey-Bruce OPP, and Wellington County OPP.
The emergency call came in just before noon, both from people stranded on the ice and concerned citizens on shore.
By approximately 2:30 p.m., all 23 individuals had been safely airlifted back to shore.
