On thin ice

Emergency crews work to save four vehicles sinking into Kehewin lake

Helicopters will likely need to be called in to assist in the recovery of four vehicles that began sinking into Kehewin lake on Saturday afternoon. Emergency crews began recovery efforts on Saturday, however with nightfall nearing efforts were diverted until Sunday.

By the time emergency crews arrived on scene Sunday, two of the four vehicle had sunk into the lake. Helicopter crews may be called in to assist in the recovering of one of the vehicles.

The two vehicles that had not been submerged into the lake were recovered successfully.

Matt Hewutri, incident commander on scene explained spring melt has rendered the lake unsafe for vehicles to drive on. “It’s a bad time to be on the ice and people have found out the hard way.”

According to reports, after two vehicles began to sink, two more entered onto the frozen lake to assist in recovery. At that time, the two additional vehicles began to sink into the lake.

One of the two vehicles that had sunk had lines on it before going into the lake, explained Hewutri. “We are cutting a route into the ice to shore to drag the vehicle to shore.”

The second vehicle is on the west side of the lake, far from shore.

“That [recovery] is going through the environmentalist companies, we don’t have the resources for that,” Hewutri explained that a helicopter may need to be called in to help extract the vehicle.

Emergency crews would like to ask the public to keep the roadways clear and moving. Motorists who stop on the highway will be ticketed by RCMP.

No people had been injured in this incident.