ELY — A Boy Scout party of eight was safely rescued by boat and floatplane after their two canoes capsized on a windswept and misty lake in the Boundary Water Canoe Area in far northeastern Minnesota, officials said Friday.

The air and sea rescue was completed around sunset Thursday on Basswood Lake, north of Ely. Afterward, the five Scouts, their two leaders and a local Scout guide were soggy and shaking off mild hypothermia, reports say.

All eight who were in the water at some point had on life jackets, and “without those, we probably would’ve had a very different outcome,” said Justin Mayne, a captain with the Lake County Rescue Squad.

Mayne said the first call that the canoes had capsized and were missing came about 4:20 p.m. Thursday. Within a half-hour the searchers found three of the missing canoeists near Canadian Point. The other five were spotted on land just north of Washington Island another half-hour later, Mayne said. Six of the eight were brought to safety on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service float plane, and the other two by boat, Mayne said.