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Michael Sanger was among the 134 fishermen rescued from Lake Erie on Saturday, February 7, 2009. He was stranded on the huge chunk of ice on Lake Erie in Ohio.
Rescuers have been blaming the fishermen for being out on dangerous ice, but Sanger, who is a veteran fisherman of 45 years, tells a different story. According to Sanger, there was nothing the fishermen could have done but wait for a rescue or try to find a path to land after they were stranded by a crack in the ice that stretched several miles long.
“It wasn’t a panic situation, like a plane crash or anything. Guys were standing around deciding, should we take a chance and try to get out of here and go to the east, or should we just wait it out?” said Sanger.
One man died of an apparent heart attack after he fell into the water. The man had been looking for a safe place to cross from the lake to the shore when his snowmobile broke through the ice. A relative performed CPR until a helicopter arrived, but the man was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Rescuers said the fishermen were at fault because they had built a wood bridge to get farther on the ice and the conditions were dangerous. Sanger believes that a Coast Guard ship clearing the ice the day before may have contributed to the ice breaking. He is mad that no one warned fishermen of the dangerous conditions.
"It wasn't a situation where we were crossing open water and risking our lives to get out there, knowing that we were taking a huge chance. I think the guys that went out there were very experienced fisherman who did not think it was dangerous conditions," Sanger said.
