Massachusetts

Teen Rescued After Falling Through Ice

A teenager was rescued Monday after falling through ice on a pond in Westborough, Massachusetts.

Fire officials say a 19-year-old male was skating with friends on Mill Pond when he fell into the water.

"I started hearing some commotion across the ice, 'help, help,'" said witness Ellen Gugel, who was walking her dog when she heard the screaming.

"Ran down to the ice to see what was going on," said Gugel. "Saw a guy skating back and forth. Clearly, his buddy had gone in. That's when I whipped out the phone and called 911."

Two friends had been skating when one of them went under.

The temperatures were frigid, but the ice was not thick enough, and the teen ended up in the water.

Firefighters arriving at the scene could hear the teen yelling for help, but they couldn't see him.

Four firefighters used survival suits and a raft to try and locate the teen.

"The sun was beginning to set and it was very difficult to see but we could hear him and guided us right to him," said Lt. Chris Dubois.

The rescuers grabbed him and pulled him out of the ice, and placed him in the raft while other firefighters on land pulled them all in using rope.

Officials say he was about 2,000 feet from shore.

"That's an exceptionally long distance to go out and get someone," said Fire Chief Patrick Purcell. "We had to actually marry three different sets of life safety rope together and use the manpower to pull all of the rope and the boat and the victim and the firefighters all on to shore at the same time."

The man was taken to the hospital with significant hypothermia, but he is expected to recover.

"He was in that icy water for probably 15 minutes," said Gugel.

Firefighters say they had just been training with the survival suits and the raft only about three hours before the emergency.

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