Up to 100 fishermen stranded in northern Minnesota on a large piece of ice in the middle of a lake

An estimated 75 to 100 anglers in northern Minnesota were reportedly stranded on an ice floe Friday evening.



The floe broke apart from the main ice, CBS News reported, on the Upper Red Lake.



A spokesperson for the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet that the open water was too large to bridge, and emergency crews were working on an operation to get people back to the shore.



A Facebook post from the sheriff's office Friday night said that 122 individuals were evacuated from the ice. Bystanders attempted to evacuate the stranded anglers by canoe, and four of the would-be rescuers fell into the open water. They were brought back onto the ice to warm in a fishing shelter.



The Upper and Lower Red Lake, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, is the largest lake within the borders of Minnesota, covering some 288,800 acres.