It did not end well for a group of boaters who needed to be rescued after running of gas in the middle of Lake Erie on Saturday.
At around 4:45 p.m., the Elgin County OPP Marine Unit responded to a report of an vessel in distress after a concerned relative reported that two of their relatives had gone out boating, leaving from the Port Burwell area around 6 a.m.
The relative reported that they had received a cell phone call from the boaters at around 12 p.m. and they stated that they had run out of gas and needed help getting in. The relative searched in another boat for the pair until 4:45 p.m. and were unable to locate the overdue boaters or get a hold of them via cell phone.
The Marine Unit responded and after an extensive search along with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and the Auxiliary Coast Guard, the Elgin OPP Marine Unit were able to locate the overdue vessel around 7:10 p.m. in the area south of Long Point, approximately 5 km north from the U.S./Canada Border (approximately 32 km in a straight line from Port Burwell).
As part of the investigation, police charged the boaters with failing to have adequate visual signaling devices.
Police also charged the boaters with having opening liquor seizing a quantity of alcohol, including beer and hard liquor.
