Freighter on the move after it was freed from ice on frozen Lake Erie

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A freighter was on its way to Canada on Sunday after it was freed from ice that trapped it in a frozen Lake Erie for days, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Manitoulin, a 663-foot Canadian vessel with 17 people on board, got stuck in the ice on Lake Erie on Wednesday after it dropped off a load of wheat in Buffalo, New York, and was heading back to Canada, the Coast Guard said. It was freed Saturday.

The ship wasn’t damaged, and its crew is safe, officials said. Freighters in the Great Lakes often encounter surface ice in the winter but sometimes run into ice that is too hard or thick to break through.

A U.S. Coast Guard icebreaking ship had been working since Thursday to help the Manitoulin, and on Saturday, officials said a second ship arrived to help free the freighter. The Canadian Coast Guard also had a ship assisting with the effort.

The freighter was escorted by the three ice icebreakers through more than 20 miles of ice from Buffalo westward across Lake Erie until it got to free water Saturday night, according to Lt. Kyle Rivera of the Coast Guard.

The freighter has to travel the rest of Lake Erie and then go up the Detroit and St. Clair rivers to Sarnia, Ontario, where it will spend the rest of the winter, Rivera told The Associated Press on Sunday.

“There is ice through other portions of the lake and the rivers, but we have another cutter that will take it through there,” he said.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was at the scene conducting flights to monitor the situation. A third U.S. Coast Guard ship was scheduled to arrive Monday, in case the Manitoulin remained stuck.