Number 11 Shannan Hughes In December of 2019, 47-year-old
Shannan Hughes died after falling through the ice at a private pond in Shellsburg, Iowa.
When Hughes failed to return from his trip, his family raised the alarm with local authorities.
A passerby had reported seeing the man fishing on the ice but mentioned that he later vanished.
The bucket he’d been sitting on and his gear were still there. A hole, measuring 3 to 4 feet across,
was later discovered in the vicinity. It’s believed that Hughes had gotten up to stretch
his legs or to look for a different fishing spot. After he’d taken a few steps, the ice gave way
under his weight and he fell through. His lifeless body was pulled from the pond the following day.
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in to us on Instagram today! Number 10 Korisa Miller
In January of 2020, Korisa Miller was fishing with her best friend off the docks in Harrison County,
Michigan. At some point, the woman lost her footing and slipped into Lake St Clair.
Miller’s screams alerted her friend, who’d been fishing one dock over. The woman was unable to
pull Miller out. After several minutes spent in the water, her lower half had gone numb and
she could no longer use her legs properly. Two local fishermen rushed to her aid, but they too
couldn’t lift the woman out. While her friend went to get help, the fishermen tried to hold
Miller’s head above water. They also removed the woman’s coat and sweater, as they were floating
around her face, choking her. Police officers arrived at the scene and Miller was rescued,
after spending around 15 minutes in the freezing water. She was left with frostbitten toes and a
sore shoulder, but was expected to fully recover. The officers’ bodycam captured the incident and
Miller allowed the footage to be shared, to warn of the dangers posed by ice fishing.
Number 9 Clark Shoemaker & Dominic Arthur In 2015, Clark Shoemaker and Dominic Arthur died
after falling through the ice, during a fishing trip to a rock quarry in rural
Indiana. Emergency responders struggled to reach the teenagers, aged 17 and 13, by navigating
through ice sheets and steep, rocky terrain. By the time they were pulled into a rescue boat,
they had spent over 90 minutes in the water. The teens were taken to IU Health Bloomington,
where they were later pronounced dead. According to the Department of Natural Resources,
the ice was less than 3 inches thick when Shoemaker and Arthur broke through the surface.
Warming temperatures in the area had further weakened it. While walking on frozen surfaces
is never completely risk free, the DNR stated that at least 4 inches of fresh,
solid ice is considered safe for ice fishing. The department warned people to always check
the thickness before venturing out. Number 8 Incident in Manitowok
In February of 1989, four teenagers, aged 16 to 17, died in a wooden shanty on the frozen Harpt
Lake, in Manitowok, Wisconsin. The 7-by-6-foot wooden fishing hut was owned by the parents of
one of the victims. The teens were all there with the permission of their parents, to take part in
an ice fishing derby. Many of those participating in the competition chose to spend the night on the
lake, either in their cars or in temporary shelters. The teens were overcome by fumes
from two portable propane heaters and a propane plate which they’d left running inside overnight.
Carbon monoxide poisoning was ruled as a cause of death for all four victims.
At the end of the fishing contest, a moment of silence was held for their tragic passing.
Number 7 Stranded Fishermen in Wisconsin In February of 2021, 66 anglers were
rescued by the Coast Guard, in collaboration with other agencies,
after three separate ice floes broke away from the shore, in Sturgeon Bay, northeastern Wisconsin.
The massive ice sheets had become separated due to high winds associated with an approaching winter
storm. Fishing huts could be spotted from the shore as the floe slowly drifted away. During
the 4-hour emergency operation, rescue swimmers dropped down from helicopters. They coordinated
with local responders and the Coast Guard’s ice boats. Fortunately, all 66 anglers were saved and
none had sustained life-threatening injuries. Number 6 Snowmobile Crashes into Shanty
In February of 2021, an angler was killed after a snowmobile crashed into his fishing hut, on a lake
in Lenawee County, Michigan. The incident happened during the annual tip-up festival at Devil’s Lake,
which featured a fishing contest as well as motorbike and snowmobile races. At around 7:30 pm,
the driver lost control of the vehicle and ploughed into the temporary shelter. According
to a police report, ice wasn’t a factor in the crash as, at an estimated thickness of 6 inches,
it was solid enough for both for ice fishing and snowmobiling. The man inside the shanty,
whose name wasn’t released, suffered critical injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the snowmobile was also hurt in the crash, but was reported as in a stable condition.
It’s unclear what had caused the incident and the police launched an investigation to determine if
alcohol had been a factor. Number 5 Utah Man
In December of 2020, an unnamed man and his dog were rescued from the Mantua Reservoir, in Utah,
after falling through the ice. The Mantua Police Department answered a call about someone drowning
and found the 66-year-old Plain City man fighting for his life in the water. They threw him a rope
but pulling him out proved difficult as he was still attached to his fishing sled
by a chest harness. One officer crawled to him and started taking apart the harness.
The ice broke from under the rescuer as well but he was able to swim back to a solid surface.
After the safety line was attached, the officer and a colleague dragged the man and his pet out
of the water. Both had been floating, in freezing temperatures, for over 15 minutes.
However, after receiving professional medical care, they were pronounced in stable condition
and expected to make a full recovery. Number 4 Chinese Family
In February of 2015, a Chinese family narrowly escaped with their lives after their car
started sinking in a lake near Changchun, in the country’s Jilin province. They had cut a hole in
the ice and extended a fishing rod inside, during a winter festival. As they waited for their catch,
the family was keeping warm inside their Audi Q7 SUV, which was parked nearby. It’s believed
that heat from the vehicle’s engine gradually melted the ice underneath it. The surface cracked,
creating a hole in which the Audi began to sink. The family, two adults and one child, were able to
get out at the last moment. The car, with their belongings inside, then disappeared beneath the
surface. The family escaped unscathed and the Audi was later recovered from the bottom of the lake.
Number 3 Incoming Icebreaker
In January of 2021, dozens of fishermen were forced to flee for their lives from a Russian
icebreaker, in the Gulf of Finland. The anglers had been reeling their lines through ice holes,
when the hulking vessel approached them. The Kaptain Plakhin icebreaker was clearing the
glacial sheets, close to the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, in order to facilitate winter
navigation. Ice fishing in the area was reported as illegal and a hovercraft had been dispatched,
in order to warn the anglers. They hastily grabbed their gear and fled to shore,
as the Kaptain Plakhin headed straight for them. Had they not moved out of its way in time, the
collapsing ice would have caused them to fall into the freezing waters. The icebreaker weighed almost
2,500 tons, meaning it was about as heavy as 20 blue whales, and could cut through ice
that was up to 4 feet thick. Some of the anglers argued that the captain should’ve been arrested
due to his apparent disregard for human life. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported.
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Number 2 Carl Lester
Carl Lester, an ice fisherman from Delta County, Michigan, died in January of 2021, after driving
his ATV through a pressure crack on the ice. The incident occurred in northern Lake Michigan.
64-year-old Lester had failed to return from one of his regular fishing trips so his wife asked a
neighbor to help find him. The authorities were notified after the neighbor spotted a floating
object on Big Bay De Noc, in the Upper Peninsula. Two officials from the Michigan Department of
Natural Resources arrived at the scene and went on the ice. They discovered Lester’s
lifeless body and brought it to shore. The ice was roughly 5 inches thick but windy weather
had caused a pressure crack which separated a floe, exposing about 10 to 15 feet of water.
It’s believed that Lester was riding his ATV, either to or from his ice shanty,
when he accidentally drove into the open water. Number 1 Stranded Fishermen in Russia
In January of 2020, 600 Russian fishermen were rescued by the authorities after they’d become
marooned on an ice sheet, in the Sea of Okhotsk. While ignoring warnings of ice cracks in the
frozen sea, they had become separated from shore by a fissure. The massive floe they were marooned
on had drifted hundreds of feet from shore and the fishermen were in danger of capsizing
into the frigid water at any moment. Fortunately, a rescue operation was swiftly mounted,
involving multiple boats and a hovercraft. The emergency responders threw a line to the fishermen
and pulled them onto firmer ice on the shore. This was achieved, in part, by using smaller pieces of
ice as rafts. According to local reports, the rescue operation took nearly two days, but no
fatalities were reported and none of the anglers had been seriously injured. They were subsequently
criticized by the authorities for disregarding repeated warnings about fishing in the area. This
was one of three incidents, over the course of a single week, in which people had to be rescued
from drifting glacial masses in the Sakhalin region. In a separate incident, 536 fishermen
were saved, following a 7-hour operation, after becoming stranded in similar conditions.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather walk across the surface of a frozen lake, in early spring, or
try to survive a week, on your own, at the North Pole? Let us know in the comments section below!