134 rescued from ice floe; 1 dead

OFF THE COAST OF LAKE ERIE - Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton said one person died after falling through the ice and into Lake Erie Saturday afternoon. He was one of the hundreds of ice fishermen trapped on an 8-mile-long ice floe that stretched from Metzger Marsh in eastern Lucas County to Crane Creek State Park in western Ottawa County, first responders told FOX Toledo News.

All 134 fishermen have now been accounted for.

The lone victim has been identified as Leslie L. Love, 65, of New Albany, Ohio. Friends who were with him told the Ottawa County sheriff that his snowmobile sunk into about 3-feet of water. When they pulled him out, he collapsed from an apparent heart attack. His son-in-law performed CPR until a coast guard helicopter flew Love to Firelands Regional Medical Center in Port Clinton.

Earlier in the day, fishermen had laid down plywood planks on the thin layer of ice to get out to the lake, but the ice melted and sunk their wooden path back to shore, emergency officials said. Warmer temperatures and high wind caused the gap in the ice to grow, leaving people stranded.

Toledo and Washington Township fire departments, the latter equipped with two rescue hovercraft, also assisted Jerusalem Township in the rescue efforts.

(FOX Toledo's Chris Poturalski, Tiffany Tarpley and Sharia Davis contributed to this report.)