70-year-old dead after falling through ice on ATV

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A 70-year-old man is dead after he and the ATV he was driving fell through the ice on the Kennebecasis River, RCMP stated.

Sgt. Luc Samson of the RCMP told Brunswick News it was just after 3 p.m. Sunday when RCMP, Kennebecasis Valley Police and Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department were dispatched to the scene near Kinghurst Park for a report of a man and the vehicle falling through the ice on the river.

“The body of a 70-year-old man from Passekeag was recovered from the water and transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead,” he said.

Samson said RCMP do not believe the man’s death was criminal and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

“The man’s identity won’t be released at this time.”

Kennebecasis Valley Fire Department Deputy Chief Shawn White said it was firefighters from the department who first ventured out onto the ice when the report was received of a four wheeler falling through the ice. A resident in the area, White said, happened to be looking out their window at the time and saw the vehicle break through and its lone rider attempting to get out of the water and onto the ice.

“We were notified and responded with our ice rescue equipment and arrived on scene and talked to the caller just to try and get a good idea of where the person may be,” said White. “We started to make our way across the river and it was particularly challenging because the ice, as we kept going across it, kept breaking away. It was very thin and as the crews were trying to walk across it they’d keep falling through.”

The patient, White said, was a “significant distance” off shore, meaning it took a while before the firefighters reached him. In the interim, Saint John Fire Department provided assistance with four firefighters assisting the eight from Kennebecasis Valley. In addition, he said, the use of the local department’s drone provided assistance in locating the man.

“Once we did, we were able to see some debris in the water and we brought him out of the water and onto the ice shelf,” he said. “While this was all going on, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre out of Halifax was also in contact with us and had offered a helicopter. So a Cormorant helicopter was dispatched out of Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and it arrived on scene.”

Lt. Commander Len Hickey, senior public affairs officer with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, said the man and his ATV had fallen through the ice almost a kilometre off shore. He noted once the helicopter was on scene local firefighters provided assistance in getting the man into the helicopter’s bucket before he was hoisted onto the aircraft.

“What I can tell you is that when the patient was passed over to the hospital they were unresponsive,” Hickey said.

White said it was a long and arduous process for firefighters to reach the scene but noted training for such scenarios helps firefighters be prepared for such situations.

“We have to make sure we’re, obviously, properly equipped. We do have ice rescue equipment that we use and we do yearly training. Coincidentally,” he said, “we were doing some ice rescue training the week before this incident. We have to make sure we are somewhat familiar with the area because…. we don’t consider the ice ever safe especially in these areas where there’s open water, stronger currents and things like that that make it particularly more challenging for us.”

White is reminding residents to exercise caution whenever they are on the ice and to pay attention to ice conditions at all times.

“It’s important to emphasize we want people to take the necessary precautions whenever they’re on ice, especially this year when it’s been warm and cold and the ice hasn’t really froze as much as it normally does. We ask that people wear floater jackets  and they have ice awls or something with them that can help get them out of the water and back onto the ice, should they go in,” White said. “And we ask that they travel with a companion.”