SIMCOE, Ont. - Two fishermen were rescued from Lake Erie on Friday after spending hours stranded on an ice floe.
Provincial police Const. Mark Foster says a Coast Guard helicopter plucked the men off the ice just before 6 p.m.
The men -- a 29-year-old and 54-year-old, both from Tillsonburg, Ont. -- were unharmed.
Foster says police received a call around 12:30 p.m. about fishermen in distress at Long Point Bay near Simcoe, Ont.
Four men were initially stranded, but a man on a snowmobile managed to rescue two of them.
Provincial authorities had issued warnings Thursday about dangerous ice conditions due to warm temperatures and rain throughout southern Ontario.
Foster said the men admitted they were oblivious to their situation.
"We get people inside their ice huts and they get concentrating on their fishing and then don't check the weather or ice conditions as the days proceed," Foster said.
"You have to keep your wits about you when you're out on the ice because conditions change rapidly."
