Cargo ship in motion after being freed from ice on frozen Lake Erie

A cargo ship was en route to Canada on Sunday after being freed from ice that had trapped it in frozen Lake Erie for days, the US Coast Guard said.

The Manitoulin, a 663-foot (202-meter) Canadian ship with 17 people on board, became stuck in the ice on Lake Erie on Wednesday after unloading a cargo of wheat in Buffalo, New York, and heading back to Canada, the Coast Guard said. It was released on Saturday.

The ship was not damaged and the crew is safe, officials said. Cargo ships in the Great Lakes often encounter surface ice in the winter, but sometimes they encounter ice that is too hard or thick to break through.

A U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker had been working since Thursday to help the Manitoulin, and on Saturday officials said a second ship had arrived to help free the freighter. The Canadian Coast Guard also had a ship to assist in the effort.

The cargo ship was tracked through nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) of ice off Buffalo until it reached open water, according to Lt. Kyle Rivera of the Coast Guard.

The cargo ship must pass the rest of Lake Erie and then go up the Detroit and St. Clair to Canada, where he will spend the rest of the winter, Rivera told The Associated Press on Sunday.

“There is ice in other parts of the lakes and rivers, but we have another cutter to get it through,” he said.

A US Coast Guard helicopter was on the scene monitoring the situation. A third U.S. Coast Guard vessel was scheduled to arrive Monday, in case the Manitoulin remained stranded.