“Awesome feeling”: Sergeant describes the rescue rescue of ice in Washington County, Indiana – Wool 3

Louisville, KY. (Wave) – What started as an afternoon of ice fishing has become a close death for fishing in Washington County, Indiana.

This week, DNR in Indiana shared the details of dramatic ice rescue, which took place on Wednesday on Lake Elk Creek.

Wednesday afternoon, 76-year-old Jasper Combs was about 100 feet from the lake shore when he fell through the ice.

Another fisherman heard his shouts for help and also fell through the ice, trying to reach him before he could save.

Matt Hine, a sergeant in the Washington County Sheriff Department, was one of the first emergency responses on the spot.

By the time the first respondents arrived, Kombs was already floating 45 minutes.

“The ice is too thin on the side of the lake’s boat ramp so it can reach it, so we tried to make a plan to walk the back of the lake,” Hine said.

The captain of the Hine and Gibson Fire Department Andrew was silent nearly half a mile through the forest to tour the lake and throw a combs of the rope, pulling it in a safe place.

Combs had already entered a hypothermic shock.

“He hardly reacts to us when we took him out,” Hine said. “He was completely numb, he really couldn’t talk to us or something, so we just focused on getting dry clothes on him as we waited for the rest of the rescue team to get around.”

Hine said Combs had a sailing device that helped him stay above the water, probably save his life.

“It’s quite wild to think about what he has gone through and even the fact that when we took his rope, he still managed to stick to him hard enough to get him out of the ice,” Hine said. “It is very impressive to think about our will and our power that he had to go through it.”

Combs has been transported to UOFL Hospital for treatment. A spokesman for UOFL Health said he has been released since then and has been recovering at home.

Hein says the team’s effort made it possible to save.

“It’s a great feeling,” Hein said. “We were just happy that we got there on time and were in the right place and managed to do the best we could help him.”

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