iStock/Thinkstock(WATERBORO, Maine) — Three good Samaritans rescued a teenage girl after she was thrown off a snowmobile into a frozen lake in Waterboro, Maine.
The three rescuers — Brandon Jackson, Bill Rodgers and Taylor Dion — were fishing and snowmobiling near Little Ossipee Lake Feb. 4 when they saw someone struggling in the frozen water.
Jackson, Rodgers and Dion threw a thick rope out to the victim in the water, who turned out to be a 16-year-old girl, and yelled instructions to her, saying, “Hold on tight. Get both hands. Kick your feet really hard.”
“All three of us pretty much decided, ‘Hey let’s get out there,'” Jackson said, adding he and the other rescuers were there at the “right place and the right time.”
“We were there and we helped and we had what we needed to get the job done and it worked out very well.”
Jackson, who captured the video on his helmet camera, Rodgers and Dion were able to pull the victim, who was not named, safely to shore.
The teen’s dramatic rescue demonstrates the dangers that can come with riding snowmobiles on ice.
Snowmobiles can reach top speeds of over 90 mph and weigh over 600 pounds. Ice needs to be at least 5 inches thick in order to support the weight of the snowmobile, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Individual drivers’ own decisions, not the machines, may be responsible for a portion of the 14,000 reported injuries that occur on snowmobiles each year, according to the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association.
“Snowmobile safety is the responsibility of all snowmobilers to conduct themselves in a safe manner and follow the snowmobiling laws and regulations,” association president Ed Klim said in a statement to ABC News.
Individuals who fall into frozen water, whether caused by a snowmobile accident or other things, should try to control their breathing, remain calm and focus on putting their arms on top of the ice and kicking their legs to pull themselves back onto the ice.
The teen who was rescued in Maine also made a potentially lifesaving decision to remove her boots while in the water so they would not wear her down, according to police.
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