3 Men Rescued After Breaking Through Ice on Upper Red Lake

Three men are reported as now being safe after they broke through the ice on Upper Red Lake when returning from fishing on Thursday.

According to a press release from the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, their Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call at around 7:53 p.m. that day that came from an area on Upper Red Lake. A second call was received a few minutes later saying an ATV and trailer had broken through the ice.

Two of the occupants had fallen into the water but managed to get back on top of the ice. Emergency crews were dispatched, and fire personnel and first responders spotted the group over a mile from shore along Joas Beach Road NE on the southwest side of the lake.

At around 9:05 p.m., Kelliher Fire & Rescue performed an ice rescue and got the individuals back to shore, who besides being cold were otherwise uninjured. The men who were rescued said they went in the wrong direction when returning to a resort and broke through an ice pressure ridge.

The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office warns the public that ice conditions vary greatly due to the unseasonably warm weather, and that ice conditions will deteriorate this weekend as temperatures are projected to stay above freezing, along with chances of rain. Anyone who does head out on the ice is asked to check ice thickness frequently.

Thursday’s rescue is the third reported incident involving thin ice on Upper Red Lake this week. On Sunday, 35 people were rescued after being stranded when an ice chunk detached from the shore. And on Tuesday morning, a plane that landed on the lake slid into an area of thin ice and broke through into the water.