(UPI) -- Authorities in Wisconsin said participants in an annual ice fishing contest were left searching for rides home when 36 parked vehicles fell through the ice.

36 Cars Through Ice at Wisconsin Fishing Tournament: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Organizers of the Battle on the Bago, an annual ice fishing competition on Lake Winnebago, said participants were warned against parking on the ice, but some did it anyway because they could not find anywhere else to leave their vehicles Saturday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday.

"We had some cars that got wet," a Winnebago County sheriff's department dispatcher said. "We had cars parked on the ice like it was a parking lot. Usually they do park out on the ice; that's not unusual. It's just that they parked too close together. It was too much for the ice conditions this year."

The dispatcher said the water was shallow where the cars fell through and they were removed with two trucks. The sheriff's department said four vehicles were submerged more than half way while 18 went partially under the water and 14 others only sank to the tops of their wheels.

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