A man has died when he and his brother fell through an icy pond while ice fishing in the small New York town of Burlington, authorities said.
The surviving brother was quickly helped by a forest ranger who happened to be “one minute away from the pond” when the incident occurred on January 6.
The ranger found the 42-year-old man treading water, entered the ice, crawled toward him, and pulled him out using a throw bag.
“I was coaching him, you know, ‘hey, kick your feet, kick your feet,’” Officer Ranger Laymon recalled.
The man suffered from hypothermia and received medical help at the scene.
His younger brother was found dead within 10 minutes “in seven to eight feet of water.”
“I just started scanning the water. I saw a red, white, and black reflective coat, and was like, ‘yeah, that’s gotta be the guy,” Laymon said.
“It took a couple of attempts, but I was trying to reach down and grab his coat. And I don’t have the longest arms, so eventually, I made a big push, dipped my head under, dove my shoulders down, got ahold of the guy, and brought him to the surface.”
The victim was declared dead at a hospital.
Investigators said the ice covering the Basswood Pond where the incident occurred was roughly one inch thick and “unsafe for fishing.”
