A man, who had been riding an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) on Lac la Hache, died Feb. 3 after falling through the ice.

100 Mile House RCMP received a call around 4:31 p.m. alerting them that a man, who had been operating his ATV on the lake near Abbey Frontage Road, had disappeared through the ice.

Police say the caller noted he had heard a loud crack before the rider went in. However, the caller said he couldn’t get close enough to the rider to pull him to safety because the ice was weak in spots and there was open water where the rider slipped below the surface.

The 108 Mile Volunteer Fire Department and South Cariboo Search & Rescue were called to perform the ice rescue. Both groups have members certified for ice rescue response.

108 Mile fire chief Marcel Ried said his crew arrived quite awhile after the RCMP first alerted him because he has to get permission from the Cariboo Regional District to respond outside of his fire district.

“We have a mutual aid agreement with Lac la Hache [Volunteer Fire Department] but [the lake] isn’t classified as being in their district either. The lake, itself, isn’t in anybody’s district, so we have to make a phone call and find out if we can respond.

“Timing is of the essence in any situation, so the sooner you can get out there the better.”

He added the Lac la Hache department, which isn’t certified in ice rescue, wouldn’t have attempted a rescue.

When 108 members arrived on the scene, the accident site was about 300 metres off shore, Ried said, “just about the middle of the lake.”

The fire chief said a resident told him the ice along the shoreline and out toward the rider was around 10 inches thick.

However, Ried noted that where the ice had cracked on either side of where the four-wheeler went through it was only about an inch and a half thick.

The resident had an aluminum boat tied to his quad

and Ried said the 108 crew, dressed in their ice-rescue suits, threw their safety equipment into the boat and hitched a ride out to the accident scene.

“It probably would have taken a lot longer if we had to walk out.”

Within minutes of arriving on scene, they got the rider out of the water and into the sleigh, and pulled him back to shore. Ried said the man was unresponsive when they got to him.

Paramedics transported him to 100 Mile House District Hospital, but even with all of the life-saving measures attempted, doctors pronounced the rider dead shortly after he arrived.

The name of the victim is being withheld, as per the request of the family.

B.C. Coroners Service is still investigating.