A 75-year-old man was rescued early Saturday after the U-Haul truck he was driving crashed through the ice on a lake in Mount Desert, Maine.
A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife tells NBC Boston affiliate News Center Maine that the driver of the 10-foot box truck was apparently “confused” and did not realize he was driving on Echo Lake. Officials say he did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or anything else.
The driver was coming from Ike’s Point Road and had traveled more than 400 yards out onto the lake when the truck suddenly broke through the ice around 4:45 a.m., causing the vehicle’s frontend to partially submerge, according to spokesperson Mark Latti.
He was able to get out and crawl on top of the U-Haul, where he called 911 for help.
Mount Desert police and fire departments responded to the scene, where they were assisted by Southwest Harbor firefighters, as they walked across the ice and helped carry the man, who was “wet and cold,” back to shore.
The man was taken to MDI Hospital in Bar Harbor, where he was treated and released, News Center Maine reports.
State officials tell News Center Maine that the ice thickness across the lake was about 2.5 inches, but that there was only about an inch of ice where the U-Haul broke through.
The Maine Warden Service and a marine salvage company were called to the lake to help remove the truck, which fully broke through the ice by midmorning and then became totally submerged, according to News Center Maine.
In an update later Saturday, Latti said the truck would not be removed until the ice was thicker so that the marine salvage company could work under safer conditions. It wasn’t immediately clear when that may occur.
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.