Man killed when commercial transport vehicle crashes through Lake of the Woods ice

A commercial transport vehicle commonly known as a "bomber" crashed through the ice on Lake of the Woods in the Northwest Angle on Thursday morning, killing one of the passengers.

It is believed to be Minnesota's second ice fishing fatality of the season.

The accident near Flag Island up north was reported shortly after 8 a.m. The body of a male passenger was recovered about seven hours later in about 10 feet of water by a Cass County dive team, according to a statement from the Lake of the Woods County Sheriff's Office. The statement provided no other details, saying the incident was under investigation and that family members of the deceased were still being notified.

Paul Colson, owner of Jake's Northwest Angle Resort, said a neighboring resort was operating the Bombardier snow bus when it broke through the ice about 900 yards south of Flag Island. Several passengers, perhaps five or six, escaped from the water with the help of the driver, Colson said.

The last fatal accident on Lake of the Woods involving a commercial transport vehicle during an ice fishing run was 1996, Colson said.

He said the rear end of the bomber crashed through the ice Thursday and bottomed out on the lake's floor. The front end remained elevated on broken ice. Colson said he checked the depth of the ice with his chain saw while at the scene, measuring 12 inches of ice.

"I was expecting to find thin ice but I found a foot of ice all around the machine,'' Colson said. "You'd be hard-pressed to find better ice anywhere in Minnesota right now.''

Colson said his resort stayed out of the ice fishing business this season but not because of ice conditions or weather. He said local ice fishing outfitters, including himself, consider 12 inches enough to support a bomber carrying passengers.

Bombers, equipped with caterpillar tracks, are used on the American side of the lake to haul customers to and from fish houses away from shore.

"I would have put one of my machines on the same ice,'' Colson said.

About the same time Thursday morning, two men on an ATV went through the ice about 1 ½ miles north of the southern shore of Upper Red Lake, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office. The men were uninjured, but they struggled to get out of the water and to safety. They alerted authorities but said they were stranded and couldn't get back to their resort, according to a news release.

Emergency personnel responded, as did the resort. Within 35 minutes the men were back at the resort. Arrangements were made to retrieve the ATV when ice conditions improve, the release added.

The Lake of the Woods ice-related fatality is the second known this season in Minnesota.

A 67-year-old man drowned during a fishing outing a few days before Christmas in Becker County.

Jerry Keith Buhr of Osage was found with his ATV in about 4 to 5 feet of water Dec. 23 after he was reported missing, according to the Becker County Sheriff's Office. He'd gone out to his fish house on Big Toad Lake the previous day. When Buhr didn't return home, his brother searched and found a crack in the ice and open water before alerting law enforcement.

There were at least two reported ice-related fatalities last winter, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Law Enforcement Division.

Coincidentally, the DNR issued a news release Thursday warning about poor ice conditions across the state. The warm stretch has returned some icy lakes to open water in central and southern Minnesota.

Star Tribune columnist Dennis Anderson contributed to this story.