Man survives fall through McDonald Lake ice

A man is OK after falling through thin ice on McDonald Lake on Monday night.

According to a report from Lake County Sheriff Don Bell, Lake County 911 took a report of a male who had fallen through the ice at 10:45 p.m. on Feb. 24.

A Lake County deputy and a Flathead Tribal officer found the man on the south side of the lake. He had self-rescued and a friend was rendering first aid.

According to Bell, the man fell in the lake an hour prior to the report and had to break through 50 to 75 feet of ice in order to reach the lake shore. When the officers found him, he was unable to walk and was in a hypothermic state.

The officers carried the man about a half mile where Mission Fire units transported him to a local hospital.