by Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 03/97) - Two men cruising around on their snowmobiles, each carrying a 12-year-old girl on the back, went through the ice 15 minutes north of Long Lake last Thursday night.

The two girls went into the water up to their waist and suffered moderate hypothermia. The men got only their feet wet.

"We went 20 feet off the trail and hit some bad ice," said one man who asked not to be identified. "It happened just like that."

The snowmobilers were on a lake trail but as they turned around to turn for home they broke through.

One man stayed with the girls while the other ran for help.

After running for an hour in the dark and cold, the man flagged down a snowmobiler near Highway 3 adjacent to the airport and was taken to a friend's residence.

There he called the fire department and grabbed an armload of dry clothes for the girls.

He then headed back on snowmobile to the children.

Rescue crews took 50 minutes on snowmobiles to find the freezing snowmobilers, transport them back to waiting ambulances stationed off Highway 3 and rush them to Stanton Regional Hospital just before 10 p.m.

The source said he's definitely lucky to have made it without serious injury in the incident.

The young girls were back at school Monday.

Deputy fire chief, Mike Lowing suspect there was a current in the area where the snowmobilers went through, causing a weak spot.

"It's the only thing we can attribute to the failure of the ice," said Lowing.

Examining the incident, Lowing said the two men did exactly what they should have in the incident. "The two did an exceptionally good job."

Municipal enforcement, RCMP and friends of the snowmobilers were at the lake on Saturday to haul the machines from the water.