A 62-year-old man has died after the ATV he was operating broke through the ice on a lake in Aitkin County in east-central Minnesota, authorities said Friday.
The man was identified as Darrel Edward Piispanen, according to a release by the Sheriff's Office.
On Wednesday about 3:30 p.m., the Sheriff's Office received a call that someone had broken through the ice at Gun Lake. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the report. Shortly after 4 p.m., authorities removed Piispanen from 6 to 7 feet of water.
He was taken to the Riverwood Health Care Center in Aitkin and died that night.
Ice thickness in the area varied from about 1 inch, where the incident occurred to more than 6 inches. When thickness is 2 inches or less, the state Department of Natural Resources cautions, people should stay off the ice. To check ice thickness, the DNR recommends contacting a local bait shop or lakeside resort to ask about conditions and check the ice yourself at least every 150 feet, since ice is rarely the same thickness over a single body of water.
NICOLE NORFLEET
