The hours-long process to free a Pelee Island ferry that became stuck on a sandbar in Lake Erie near Kingsville, Ont., stranding 33 people aboard, began this morning with the arrival of a tugboat from Detroit.

The Jiimaan was carrying 18 passengers and 15 crew members, along with truckloads of soybeans and grapes, when it came to a halt at 1:45 p.m. Thursday due to low water levels, 60 metres from shore.

The youngest passenger is an infant travelling with her father.

Chris Armour, marine co-ordinator with the Trenton Search and Rescue Centre, said a Great Lakes Towing tugboat from Detroit was called to the scene and that passengers will remain on the vessel until it is brought to Kingsville.

"The safest place for them is on that boat," Armour told CBC News.

The tugboat arrived around 8:30 a.m. ET. It could take six hours to inspect the vessel and then tow it to Kingsville, according to Armour.

Divers will take a look at the hull to make sure it has not been breached.

Rising water levels change rescue plan

The Canadian Coast Guard originally planned to remove passengers from the boat at 5:30 a.m. Plans changed once water levels started to rise.

"Apparently there will be no early-morning rescue [on board]," one passenger said on her Twitter feed.

The coast guard said strong winds and large waves made it unsafe to try to remove passengers Thursday night.

Those aboard spent the night on the ferry, which is stuck in the channel it uses every day to travel between Kingsville and the island.

Days of high winds moved the sand into the channel and lowered water levels, said Susan Schrempf, president and CEO of the Owen Sound Transportation Company, which operates the ferry.

Schrempf said Thursday there was enough food aboard to accommodate passengers until "later into [the] evening."

The ship does have food services. Passengers were tweeting pictures of the cake they were served Thursday night.

2 ferries service island

Earlier this year, both the Jiimaan and Pelee Islander ferries were out of service at the same time. Mechanical problems on the Jiimaan were being repaired when the Pelee Islander was undergoing routine inspection in May. The island was serviced, instead, by plane.

While the Jiimaan remains stuck, the much smaller and older Pelee Islander is still running as scheduled from Leamington, about 20 minutes south of Kingsville.

Pelee Island Mayor Rick Masse said the stranded ship underscores the importance of plans to get a new, bigger ferry sometime in the next six years.

"Right now, there's a big harvest going on in our community, and it could have a huge impact," he said of the grounded ship. "So if we had the new boat available, at least we would be able to conduct business on Pelee."

A tugboat from Great Lakes Towing arrives on the scene of the stranded Jiimaan.A tugboat from Great Lakes Towing arrives on the scene of the stranded Jiimaan. (Twitter)