Vermont Rescuers Save Couple Stranded on Ice Floe

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- A Quebec couple got an unexpected ride Monday on a Lake Champlain ice floe. Theodures Raaymakers, 62, and his wife, Annette Raaymakers, 60, of St. Sebastian, Quebec, were ice fishing Monday morning near the town of Rouses Point, N.Y., when the ice they were on broke free from shore.

The couple began drifting north in open water soon after 10 a.m., the U.S. Coast Guard in Burlington said.

They were seen by people on shore, who called for help, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Henry.

The ice floe that the Raaymakers were on was large - about 2,000 feet by 1,000 feet - but it was thinning and cracking as 20-mph winds pushed the ice northward, said Champlain, N.Y., Fire Chief Bruce Barcomb. He said the floe was more than 200 feet from shore.

Rescue crews from several northeastern New York towns, along with the Coast Guard, responded. Members of Rouses Point Fire and Rescue went onto the lake in a 15-foot boat, pulled the boat on the ice, then placed the couple on the boat to keep them safe, Henry said. They were taken to shore by a Cumberland Head Fire and Rescue hovercraft, Henry said. They were uninjured.

Lake Champlain ice has weakened considerably and has begun to break up after several days of warm weather. Henry said the remaining lake ice is unsafe. But Barcomb said as he left the rescue scene, he saw other people fishing on the ice.

The 300,000-acre lake is shared by Vermont, New York, and Quebec.