By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — Reports that an aircraft had crashed on frozen Lake Erie offshore of Conneaut couldn't be confirmed Monday night.
The U.S. Coast Guard station in Ashtabula sent a team to Conneaut to observe the area and was met with a “negative result,” a spokesman said. The team was positioned at Township Park, which offers an expansive view of the icy lake.
The spokesman also said he understood a helicopter may have searched the area, but had no confirming information and deferred comment to the Coast Guard’s communications department in Cleveland. Conneaut firefighters said late Monday they understood a helicopter did search the area and found nothing.
Initially, the Coast Guard was alerted to a report that an object was seen about three miles out on the lake. The report apparently originated with a resident living in the 1100 block of Lake Road.
Somehow, the object became a downed plane. That information, broadcast on emergency scanners, attracted sight-seers to Township Park and nearby Conneaut Harbor. Some carried binoculars and could be seen scanning the ice for signs of the object in question.
Initially, calls went out for divers to assemble at the lake shore and the use of the city’s rescue airboat was discussed. No one ventured out on the late in the sub-freezing temperatures, firefighters said.
