Coast guard saves hunter stuck in mud for 10 hours
U.S. Coast Guard used helicopter to pluck man from mud in lake
The United States Coast Guard made a messy rescue Friday.
An air crew managed to yank a duck hunter stuck in the mud to safety by helicopter.
The hunter was stuck waist-deep in mud for 10 hours in Lake St. Clair off Mitchell's Bay, approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Chatham, Ont.
Details of the rescue were just released this week.
Two hunters were in a boat that became stuck last Friday morning. One of them jumped overboard and freed the boat, but became trapped in the mud in the process.
At 7 a.m. Friday, a good Samaritan called the London OPP to report two people were stuck in the mud aboard a five-metre boat.
Shortly after receiving the report, the OPP notified a search-and-rescue coordinator from Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton, Ontario, who proceeded to coordinate the response. However, due to the location of the boat, Canadian rescue efforts were impossible. That's when the U.S. Coast Guard was called.
It was nearly 10 hours before the U.S. Coast Guard got to him. The rescue ended just before 5 p.m. — 10 hours after the first call for help.
The coast guard said the hunter to the crew, "I would have died if you had hadn't come."
The name and hometown of the individual assisted in this case is not being released.