Delavan---First responders to a water rescue on Delavan Lake Tuesday could hear--but not see--the two ice fishermen who had broken through and were calling for help.
Due to a thick fog, visibility from shore wasn't much more than 30 feet, says Town of Delavan Police Chief Dale Clark. The two men calling for help were about a-thousand feet away, their strength quickly fading in the icy water.
Clark spoke to reporters a few hours after the men--ages 66 and 31--were pulled from the water and hospitalized in stable condition.
The men had been on an ATV that had broken through. People on shore heard their cries for help and dialed 911.
Riding a hovercraft, a Town of Delavan police officer and a town firefighter pulled the men out of the water just in time. “Five more minutes would have been the difference between this being a rescue and it not being a rescue” Clark added.
Just last week, an ice fisherman died on nearby Geneva Lake.
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