A tractor rolled into a pond on hunting property in northern Minnesota and fatally pinned the operator on the bottom, authorities said.

The incident occurred about 8 p.m. Sunday on the property along Hwy. 5 in Morcom Township, roughly 25 miles north of Hibbing, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office.

Sheldon D. Sandberg, 50, was mowing the grass and got too close to the pond's edge, sending the tractor into the pond upside down, the Sheriff's Office said. Sandberg had been in the water for nearly 30 minutes before authorities were notified.

Emergency personnel pulled the tractor out of the water and used a remotely operated vehicle equipped with a camera and sonar equipment to locate Sandberg at the bottom of the 8-foot-deep man-made pond, the Sheriff's Office added.

Paul Walsh