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3 Iowa men drown while ice fishing on a farm pond

Three men drowned when they fell through the ice while fishing on a farm pond near Creston, Iowa.

Three men drowned when they fell through the ice while fishing on a farm pond near Creston, Iowa.

Police said the men had gone fishing Saturday afternoon, March 7, 2015.  When they failed to return, someone went to the pond and found their gear and hole in the ice, but the men were missing.  Police and rescue crews were called to the farm, just north of Creston, just after 8 p.m.

It took rescue crews less than an hour to find the bodies of 71-year-old Earl Burkhalter, 73-year-old Charles Critz, and 68-year-old James Oshel, all of Creston, about 20 feet from shore.  Paramedics reportedly performed CPR at the scene, and the men were airlifted to hospitals, but all three men died.

“Ice depths are not uniform on any body of water and there is no such thing as safe ice. Warmer weather makes the ice even more unpredictable. There are many factors that impact ice formation making some locations thinner than others. With the warm weather, ice conditions can change a lot in one day. Verify the ice thickness for yourself and test it often. If the ice does not look right, stay off it,” said a statement from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued after the incident.

 

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