ATV Riders Discover Ice on Lake Not Yet Thick Enough

Two Northeast Iowa men have found out the hard way, that ice on area lakes and ponds is not yet hard enough to hold people and small vehicles.

Durango Steggal of Oelwein was driving a four-wheel atv on ice-covered Lake Oelwein late Sunday morning, with his adult son as his passenger.

Local rescue workers received a call shortly after 10am, that the two, along with their vehicle, fell through the ice.

When Oelwein Firefighters arrived, they found Steggal and his son standing on the ice, next to the hole, now occuppied by an upside-down, mostly submerged atv.

No one was injured, and the two were able to get off the ice without further incident.

The atv however, did not fare so well. The vehicle was new, with an estimated value of $14,000 to $18,000. Steggal and his son were in the process of trying out the vehicle on what they found out, was thin ice.

A towing service managed to fish the atv out of the frigid water.

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