An 82-year-old man who fell through the ice on Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey on Wednesday was safely rescued by emergency responders who were nearby taking part in a multi-agency ice rescue training, officials said Thursday.
The incident happened near the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club while the victim was piloting an iceboat, a wind-powered sailing craft used to travel over ice.
According to the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, authorities were notified of the mishap during a joint training session with officials with the New Jersey State Police, the Mt Arlington Police Department, the Hopatcong Police Department and the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Conservation Police, at Lee’s County Park Marina at Lake Hopatcong.
Their training was immediately interrupted as personnel responded to the scene, where they met with three Mt. Arlington Fire Department officials, who had already arrived and were making their way to the victim.
The still unidentified man could be seen “lying down on the ice from the shoreline and his iceboat was partially submerged and under the ice,” officials said.
The victim, who was “conscious and alert” at the time, was placed onto a rescue sled and safely carried onto the shoreline through the “waist-deep water.”
He was then taken to a St. Clare’s EMS unit for further medical evaluation.
“It is work like this, with our other public safety partners, that makes it all worth it,” Sheriff James M. Gannon said Thursday in a statement. “Saving lives is the purpose of our mission and the reason why we train together and ensure seamless performance.”
Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey’s largest freshwater body, is approximately 45 miles west of midtown Manhattan.
Leave a comment