The family reportedly left to go paddleboarding from the Wainfleet area at noon Wednesday and was found at 8:55 p.m., 10 miles away from any land.
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — A mother and her two daughters, ages 6 and 8, can rest safely tonight after being rescued from Lake Erie on Wednesday.
According to officials, the three left to go paddleboarding around noon in the Wainfleet area. At 5:47 pm, a call was made to the Niagara Regional Police, reporting the three had not returned to land.
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The Erie County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the report at 7:14 p.m., and took off using their Air 1 helicopter at 8:02 p.m.
Lead pilot of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office aviation unit, Captain Ryan Rodgers, and his co-pilot spotted the paddleboarders at 8:55 p.m. The sun had started to set nearly 20 minutes before.
“I could see something floating out there on the right side of the aircraft. And I turned the aircraft, started flying towards what I saw out there,” Rodgers said. “As we got closer, I could start to make out people. And at that point, I realized that we’d found them.”
Within 10 minutes of the Air 1 finding them, the Canadian Air Force search and rescue C-130 arrived to deploy life rafts. At 9:21 p.m., a Canadian Coast Guard Cutter was able to rescue the three to safety.
Rodgers believes that because of Wednesday’s strong winds, the currents may have swept up the paddleboarders, taking them approximately 10 miles away from any land.
“For us to find them in all that open water was miraculous. I just remember praying,” Rodgers said. “We were in a race against time. We were losing the sunlight. We were losing the daylight. And I just remember praying and saying, I hope to god that we find them.”
Rodgers says he had confidence the team could find the family, but the darkness would have significantly impacted the mission, despite the helicopter’s infrared technology.
“I think the probability of us locating them would have been substantially less. We may have prevailed with the infrared in the darkness, but I knew the odds were worsening, and I know we had a better chance of finding them while we still had a little bit of daylight remaining,” Rodgers said.
No injuries were reported, and the youngest daughter was seen wearing a lifejacket. Officials say if you’re planning on participating in any sort of water sports, plan for the worst.
“We get several calls for search and rescue every year, especially during the summer months with the amount of waterways that we have around here,” Rodgers said. “If you’re going out on the open water, no matter what activity you’re doing, even if it’s seemingly innocuous, always plan for things to go wrong and put preparations in place to mitigate emergencies and be prepared for when things go wrong on the water.”