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The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a freezing man from the middle of Lake St. Clair Thursday morning who was trying to walk across the icebound water into Canada.

After he was rescued, the 25-year-old American said his plan was to walk from Detroit to Toronto.

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“Most of us joined the Coast Guard to protect life,” said Lt. Joshua Zike, commanding officer of the coast guard cutter Neah Bay. “Our primary mission during the winter months is breaking ice to keep commercial traffic moving, but preserving life will always come first.”

Around 9:30 a.m., a lookout on the Neah Bay ice-breaking tug spotted a man walking in the middle of the frozen lake. He was about 1 ½ miles from Seaway Island.

The cutter’s ice rescue team ventured out on foot to check on him. He was suffering from hypothermia. The crew treated him, helped him aboard the boat and took him to the municipal pier in Algonac. Emergency medical service personnel were waiting for him at the pier.

The coast guard said the man wasn’t dressed appropriately for the freezing conditions. He also wasn’t wearing a flotation device and had no form of communication.

The coast guard said this was the first time in four years that an ice rescue team deployed from a Great Lakes cutter has had to rescue someone.