OTTER TAIL COUNTY, Minn. — A 64-year-old Ottertail man died after falling through the ice on the northeast side of Otter Tail Lake Saturday evening.
According to the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office, emergency personnel were called to the lake just before 7:30 p.m. on a report that two snowmobiles and an ATV had gone into the water. Officials say they pulled the man from the water, and he was transported by ambulance to a hospital, where he later died.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says ice is never 100% safe, but has tips to help people stay safe this winter.
Officials in Hennepin County recently issued a warning for people planning on going out onto the ice, saying in typical winters, ice on the lakes are about 15 inches thick — more than twice as thick as what the DNR recommends for snowmobiles and smaller ATVs — but this year's ice hasn't been as thick.
"We're seeing upwards of a foot in most places, but we are still finding patches where it is much different," said Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Water Patrol Deputy Sheriff Mathias Weinzierl.
