Tuesday, December 22, 2009

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Man falls through ice at Hamilton pond

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• Raw Video: Water rescue in Hamilton

HAMILTON, Mass. -- A man is lucky to be alive after he fell through the ice at Pleasant Pond in Hamilton on Monday.

According to the Hamilton Fire Department, the man was out walking his two dogs when they walked onto the pond and fell through the ice. He fell through the ice chasing after the dogs.

Fortunately, Doug Elliot was working on a home nearby and heard the man's screams.

"I heard some yelling and screaming. That's when I said I better look and see what it is, and that's when I saw the guy wobbling in the water. He was holding on, up to his chest in the water. Then I grabbed my phone, called 9-1-1," said Elliot of his heroic rescue.

Moments later, neighbor Dan Roberts and members of the Hamilton Fire Department arrived to help.

"I ran down with the rope. They had found a boat down there and pushed out. We tied the rope to the end of the boat," said Roberts.

Shortly after Elliot and Roberts came to the rescue, police and fire crews arrived on the scene.

"We both went over the grabbed the boat. We threw it in the water. At that point, the rope had shown up and we tied the rope to the back of the boat and police had shown up at the scene at that point too," said Dave Dolan of the Hamilton Fire Department.

The victim was taken out of the water and rushed to the hospital as a precaution.

Authorities said that this is an important lesson in safety for many people.

"We had a near-tragedy hear today. The message here is the only safe ice in Eastern Massachusetts today is in Fenway Park. Keep off the ice," said a representative for the Hamilton Fire Department.

The Hamilton Fire Department said that if pets do run out on the ice, do not run after them, call the local fire department for assistance.

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