Anglers trapped on river ice floe rescued, but odd item is left behind

Two fishermen on a slab of ice connected to the bank of a river were sent drifting downriver when the ice broke free from the bank.

Two men were fishing on a slab of ice connected to the bank of an Illinois river Monday when the 20-by-20-foot patch of ice broke free and began slowly making its way downriver.

The incident occurred on the Rock River in downtown Rockford where the unidentified fishermen were at the mercy of the river and ice as the floe traveled some 500 yards downstream.

“Luckily, the current was moving very slowly,” Rockford Fire District Chief Luis Duran told the Rockford Register Star.

Witnesses immediately called 911 and the Rock River Water Rescue team arrived on the scene and plucked the two fishermen from the ice floe with an inflatable banana boat. Fortunately nobody was injured in the incident.

Commenters on the Loves Park Neighborhood Watch Group on Facebook made light of what the fishermen were forced to leave behind, as several commented that when rescued off any ice like this, the rescuers only take you, no gear.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Official ‘gobsmacked’ over huge brown trout caught ice fishing

Remaining on the ice floe going downstream were two ice augers, a fishing rod, a bag of chips, a plastic water bottle with some drink remaining and a … mattress?

“My question is why did they have 2 hand augers and a casting rod? I don’t even wanna know about the mattress,” one commenter wrote.

Duran told the Star that the fishermen were fortunate the slab of ice didn’t break up. Instead it remained in one piece to keep them afloat and prevented them from falling into the river and risking hypothermia.

Photos courtesy of the Rockford Fire Department and Loves Park Neighborhood Watch Group on Facebook.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Huge shark that barely fit into fishermen’s boat ignites controversy