Alaska State Troopers rescued a Kodiak teenager who fell through the ice on Island Lake on April 19.
KODIAK, Alaska - A Kodiak teenager was rescued by Alaska State Troopers last week after falling through the ice on Island Lake . Troopers reported that they received word around 1:20 p.m. on April 19 that a teenager had fallen through the ice and was too cold to pull himself out.
Zach Keplinger, who has lived near Island Lake his entire life, told Alaska’s News Source that he had never personally seen anyone go through the ice on that lake before, but that he’s heard of at least two deaths due to people falling through.
“They went back to the public lake access, and then I was watching, and the other kid took off running towards the island,” Cassie recalled. “Then he turns around and comes running back, and I just watched him fall through. ” Cassie said that Zach grabbed one of their paddleboards before driving towards where the teen fell in, while she called 911.
“As soon as we heard that it was an ice rescue and that a kid had fallen through, we were just right around the corner, and so we both immediately responded,” State Trooper Anthony Will said. “I started kind of walking out on the shore a little bit, just talking to the kid, trying to keep him calm because he started getting a little panicked.
” According to Will, he ran into Zach Keplinger as he arrived on the scene, and the two began walking towards the teen together.
“When I showed up, Trooper Will was down by the shore and was trying to calm the young man down,” Zach said. “I yelled down if you wanted to use the paddleboard. He said yes, so I brought it down to him. ” “At a certain point, he stopped kind of coming further out there with me because one of his legs fell through the ice,” Will described.
“That’s when we just slid it over to this child or teenager, and he grabbed a hold of it. ” Troopers attached a tow strap to the board and pulled him back to shore, where Troopers and Bayside Fire Department personnel were waiting to take him to the hospital.
“I would have to say by the time he got to shore, he was probably in the ambulance within, I’d say a minute, and they already had him ready, wrapped up in blankets and ready to go to the hospital,” Keplinger said. A situation that luckily had a happy ending, but also a staunch reminder of the dangers that come with walking onto frozen bodies of water.
“We’ve always had the rule, even if the ice is safe, you don’t go out there without an adult,” Cassie said. “Any kids that I come across, I just tell him don’t go out on the ice. It might look like it’s safe, but you know you’re going to break through,” said Will. PFD reduced to $1,000 in new version of operating budgetUAA hockey taps longtime college assistant to take over as head coach
Island Lake AST Kodiak Alaska State Troopers Rescue Island Lake Rescue Bayside Fire Department Kodiak AST Rescue Kodiak Ice Rescue
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