PANUKE ROAD, N.S. — Three people are safe after their ATV’s went through the ice on Panuke Lake in Hants County, police say.
Public information office Cpl. Lisa Croteau said they received a 911 call around 9 p.m. on Feb. 23 related to the incident, with two ATV’s going through the ice.
“The people involved were at a nearby cabin warming up,” Croteau said. “They refused EHS. No injuries.”
Croteau said the vehicles were not recovered.
She added that the incident occurred approximately 30 feet from shore.
Jason Cochrane, chief of the Brooklyn Fire Department said they were paged out to the end of Panuke Road for this incident, but were dismissed by RCMP.
“The big part of it is that, despite the cold weather, we’ve had some warm spells, and with feeder rivers and streams coming into the lake, it tends to have open water in some areas year-round,” Cochrane said. “Come nightfall, sometimes people get disoriented and if they don’t know there’s open water there, they can miss it.”
Cochrane said ATV riders should have a firm knowledge of the area, where the problem areas are, before attempting to ride on a frozen body of water.
“Daylight is definitely the best time to travel if you are going to be on it when you can actually see the hazards,” he said.
Cochrane said the lake is highly travelled on by ATV’s and snowmobiles and suggests riders take precautions whenever heading onto the ice.
The Canadian Red Cross recommends ice be at least 15 centimetres thick for individual skating and at least 20 centimetres for group skating. Ice should be 25 centimetres thick for snowmobiles.
An ATV driver was killed earlier this year in the Musquodoboit Harbour area after their vehicle sunk over Lake Charlotte.
