Six snowmobilers survive after falling into Lake Magog in Quebec
Six snowmobilers were plunged into the frigid depths of Lake Magog, east of Montreal, on Saturday night after accidentally trying to cross an unfrozen stretch of water.
All survived, though one is recovering from severe hypothermia after spending 25 minutes in the water, clinging to the ice as he waited for help to arrive.
The incident in Quebec's Eastern Townships comes just ten days after a snowmobile party fell through the ice in Lac Saint-Jean. Six people are presumed dead.
First responders had to rescue two snowmobilers who were unable to get out of the water. (Sylvain Fontaine/Facebook)
On Saturday night, a group was ice fishing in a hut on Lake Magog. Keven Gagnon, who was familiar with the area, told his companions to follow him back to shore.
But Gagnon and others were still eating when some of the party set off in the wrong direction, toward the mouth of the Magog River, on the west side of the lake, around 8 p.m.
"They thought the lake was frozen across. They didn't know it never freezes there," Gagnon told Radio-Canada on Sunday.
He watched the lights disappear from his friends' snowmobiles as they fell through the ice. "People were screaming for their lives," he said.
Gagnon crawled out to the edge of the ice, and tried to help them get out. "It was hell," he said. "The ice was creaking everywhere. I had the fright of my life."
A DEADLY SPOT ON THE LAKE
Residents alerted police to the incident. That part of the lake is known by locals, and authorities, as a particularly fatal spot for snowmobilers and ATVers.
"One of the local residents told me that when he hears snowmobiles passing by his house, he knows it's already too late and that they're already in the water," said Carl Pépin, a constable with the Memphrémagog police.
Of the six snowmobilers who ended up in the lake, four managed to get out themselves. First responders rescued the other two.
Keven Gagnon said the people who ended up in the lake were unfamiliar with the area. (Radio-Canada)
One is covering from mild hypothermia. The other is being treated for a severe case of hypothermia after spending nearly a half-hour in the lake.
If that man had spent a few more minutes in the freezing water, "the story would have ended badly," Pépin said.
Asked on Sunday morning what lessons he had drawn from last night's incident, Gagnon said: "Lakes are dangerous. And when there are rivers, they don't forgive. You have to know where you're going."
With files from Radio-Canada.
This article was originally published by CBC News.