Ferry carrying 144 people over straits of Mackinac breaks down Tuesday night
The Mackinac Bridge (Photo by Amber Ainsworth/FOX 2)
ST. IGNACE, Mich. (FOX 2) - A boat ride over the straits of Mackinac went awry Tuesday evening when a ferry carrying more than a hundred passengers lost steering while in route from the island.
The Star Line Ferry known as the Huron was transporting 144 passengers and four crew members from Mackinac Island when it lost control and was unable to deploy its anchor. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the vessel then began to drift slowly toward St. Ignace on the upper peninsula side of the bridge.
The rescue operation required diverting an icebreaker to assist.
Coast Guard members responded around 6 p.m. They say the ferry was never in any danger of running aground.
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A local commercial vessel called the Senator, which also services Mackinac Island, responded as well and brought all passengers aboard, before safely taking them back to the mainland. The crew members stayed aboard the vessel, which was eventually towed by the icebreaker.
"Tonight's incident can serve as a reminder that life on the Great Lakes is far from predictable," said Lt. Tyler Carslgaard in a statement. "Fortunately good cooperation and simple precautions like making sure everyone on board was wearing a life jacket helped everyone get home safely."
The coast guard offered updates over Twitter.
According to the Star Line Ferry website, the Huron was built in the 1950s and can be used as an icebreaker. It's one of the agency's larger vessels with a capacity of 330 people.
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Despite the past winter reaching far less ice coverage than normal, there is still a bit of frozen surface in Lakes Michigan and Huron to require icebreaking.
Lake Huron's current ice coverage is about 13%. Lake Michigan's status is around 8%. The majority of that ice coverage on Lake Michigan's side is at the very northern section of the water body, while most of what's frozen in Lake Huron is Georgian Bay on the Canadian side.