Arizona Teens Cling to Dead Tree After Frozen Lake Cracks
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Two Arizona teens clung to a dead tree branch in a frozen lake for more than four hours this week as the thin ice around them began to crack, but they survived after firefighters came to their rescue.
What started out as a fun walk across Fool Hollow Lake for Christian Van Aller, 14, and Alex Orton, 15, in Show Low, Ariz., turned into a daring rescue by emergency crews on Wednesday.
“It started really cracking maybe about 20 feet back and that’s when we were trying to hurry and get across and that’s when it really sunk in and broke,” Christian told ABC News.
The teens rushed to the dead tree and its small branches sticking out of the ice. Each lost a shoe in the process and used hats to cover their bare feet.
“We weren’t sure what was going to happen,” Christian said. “If we would fall all the way and have hypothermia and maybe die.”
Orton’s younger brother, Wesley, used his cellphone to call for help from the shore. Instead of calling 911, Wesley decided to call his mother first.
Alex said, “I knew I was going to get into a whole lot of trouble when I got home, that was the main thing going through my head.”
When Van Aller’s mother, Bonnie, showed up, she said she panicked.
“I went out there and I went, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ I just kept praying to keep that tree strong because I just kept thinking that if that tree breaks — they’re gone because we’ll never get them back,” she told ABC News affiliate KNXV-TV.
Rescue crews eventually showed up and used a boat to save the teens, who were still clinging to the tree. Adding to the danger: temperatures dipped below freezing as day turned to night.
A firefighter in a protective suit crawled across the lake using a rope that was used to pull a boat carrying two other firefighters.
“If they were in a different location and ice that thin, the outcome wouldn’t have been so good,” Show Low Fire Department Capt. Brent Mix said.
The boys were taken to the hospital and released.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio