1 found dead, 1 rescued after ATV falls through ice in Cass County
The body of a man who crashed through the ice Monday evening while riding an ATV on a lake in northern Minnesota was recovered on Tuesday afternoon.
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says just before 6 p.m., deputies and emergency personnel responded to a report of two people falling through the ice on Blackwater Lake in Woodrow Township, about an hour north of Brainerd.
A 20-year-old man was found and pulled from the water. He was airlifted to a hospital in St. Cloud to be treated for exposure and hypothermia. The second rider, an 18-year-old man, was not found Monday night, and search efforts picked up again on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said.
Around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, the body of the 18-year-old was recovered. His identity has not yet been released.
The incident comes a week after a 16-year-old boy fell into freezing water in Woodbury and later died.
RELATED: Thin ice warnings come from DNR as ice anglers prepare for the season
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advises that this early in the season, frozen lakes and ponds are not safe to tread on unless there’s 4 inches of new, clear ice. And for ATVs and snowmobiles, ice needs to be 5-8 inches thick to support the weight, depending on the size of the vehicle.
Click here for the DNR’s full ice thickness guidelines.