Woman dies after ATV breaks through ice during family fishing trip
A family was returning to shore after ice fishing on Kabekona Lake when their ATV broke through the ice, causing one death.
The Hubbard County Sheriff's Office says 61-year-old Kenneth Peterson, of Brooklyn Park, was driving his new Polaris Ranger with his wife, 60-year-old Rose Peterson, and daughter, 29-year-old Karissa Peterson. The Petersons' son, Ryan, followed with his son on another ATV.
Ryan Peterson, 36, told police the machine, which was equipped with tracks, quickly submerged with his family inside the enclosed cab. He saw all three of his family members come to the water's surface, pulled them out of the water and up onto the ice, where he began performing CPR on his mother, who was unresponsive.
He then transported his family to their cabin on the lake, where authorities met them and performed CPR on Rose Peterson before transporting her to Sanford Hospital in Bemidji. She was then airlifted to a Fargo hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The Hubbard County Sheriff's Office is reviewing the incident.
It's the latest in a series of incidents in Minnesota that have seen ATVs and snowmobiles crash into lakes, which has followed a number of warnings from local authorities about thin ice in parts of the state.
The next day, in Crow Wing County, two escaped from a sinking ATV and fish house that had broken through the ice on Platte Lake.
Ice thickness varies by lake, and can change overnight, Crow Wing County Sheriff Scott Goddard said in a press release, asking people to be "vigilant on checking the thickness of the ice as they venture out onto the lakes."
