Snowmobiler Rescued Floating On Lake Erie

WINDSOR (WWJ) - It was an amazing rescue for an Ontario man, who fell through the ice while snowmobiling with two friends, and spent ten hours waiting to be rescued.

Constable Janet Hayes with Ontario Provincial Police says 45-year old James Turtin, from the Essex area, was  snowmobiling on Lake Erie when he broke through the ice and wound up on an ice floe.

"There were three snowmobiles out on Lake Erie last night about 1o o'clock when his snowmobile went into Lake Erie. The ice cracked and he floated away from shore," Hayes tells WWJ Newsradio 950.

 His friends made it to land, but Turtin had to wait until a Coast Guard boat spotted him around 8 a.m.

"Although he had fallen through the ice, so he was wet, but his warm snowmobile and his strong will to survive, obviously, kept him alive." Hayes said.

Turtin was taken to a hospital and is expected to be okay.