What would you do if someone fell through ice?

[Knitwit101]

We were at the park today and this teenage girl was walking out on the ice into the middle of the pond. Far out, maybe 20m from the edge.
I heard one man shout at her to come back and she told him to f off. Her friends were all egging her on and she was going further and further. She was fine, she didn't fall in. But it got me wondering what I would have done if she had fallen in.

There's no safety rope, she was way too far for anyone to throw her a branch or a scarf. Should you go in after her? Surely not, then you are just as likely to fall in and get hypothermia. Do you just phone 999 and wait? I can't think of anything else to do really.

I also considered taking her photo and blocking out her face and sharing it on our local facebook group so her parents knew what she was up to but I didn't. I then had to listen to my kids go on and on about why they were not allowed on the ice when it was clearly perfectly safe, since there was an idiot teenage girl jumping up and down right in the middle.

I would call for help

Phone 999

Leave her. She was dumb enough to go out there! It’s called “natural selection”.

Do not go after a person or animal who has fallen through ice. That’s how multiple deaths result from one person's poor choice.

Even experienced rescuers have to take extreme care with falls through ice into water.

Ignore bow, obviously

Call 911

Try and throw her a rope

Sorry, 999

Phone 999 and hope they got there quickly. That and hope that a few ladders are conveniently lying around nearby.

Phone 999
Watch her position like a hawk so you can direct rescuers to her when they arrive
Stop anyone else going in (unless its calf deep)
If there is something floatable you can throw, do that

Pretend I hadn't noticed.

You're talking about a child there @BowBeau

I saw this yesterday and did tell the boy to come back. His friends were all egging him on too but thankfully he listened and returned. My DDs 1 and 2 are still going on about it.

Phone 999. No way would I even think about going in after someone I didn't know.

What was the body of water and wtf are you to have ice you can jump on?!

We went to Finland a few years ago and it's perfectly normal and safe to ski across lakes but I really didn't like it

Without the necessary ladder people have to spread their body surface area and form a human chain lying down on the ice. Or call the Fire Brigade.

You don’t go after her. Report to police.

You've called it a pond - is it actually quite shallow? I can remember a few winters as a child when some kids walked home along the nearby frozen canal.

Oh this is my worst nightmare. For some reason, my primary school head always used to tell a story about someone who fell through an iced over pond. It terrifies me-I wouldn't go after them, but would call 999 and feel totally helpless waiting. I think the likelihood of getting out is small

What was the body of water and wtf are you to have ice you can jump on?!

The Great Lakes area is a good place for this at the moment.

We're in Scotland. I was amazed the ice was strong enough, I've never seen it like that before. She was skinny though, not much to her.

Bowbeau 's comment was a bit harsh but I did think there's no way I'm getting in that freezing water when you've been stupid enough to go out there. She was definitely old enough to know better.

Or maybe she didn't know better. We so rarely get ice that would be strong enough to hold you even a little bit so maybe no-one has told her how dangerous it can be.

I'd shout "Fetch a rail, quick, quick!" like Laurie in Little Women.

Seriously, what everyone else says. Phone emergency services, look for a lifebelt that could be thrown across.

I remember sliding on a frozen pond on Clapham Common when I was a kid in the 60s. Must have been nuts.

Get someone to call 999

Then go out on the ice lying flat on your front so you spread your weight, get as close as possible with a branch, or your belt, to give them something to grab

That's all I remember, not sure if it's correct, but that's what I would do

Risk of drowning is much greater than hypothermia, in the short term, and the ambulance would be on its way

Most ‘public’ stretches of open water will have some life belts attached to rope. These could be thrown across the ice to the person in the water in the hopes they can hold on to the life belt and be pulled by the rope to the shore. If they haven’t be vandalised, which is often the case.

If you're lucky there might be a lifebelt on a rope to throw.

If not, & you are feeling up for risking your own life & it's within a few metres of the edge, & there's someone else strong there to hang on to you, spread eagle on ice to spread weight & hold out a branch.

There's no point doing any of this if you haven't got something that would reach her, though, & be aware that emergency services won't thank you for falling through too. Basically, if you aren't able to be pulled back yourself, you won't be much help...if you need to crawl out to where she is DON'T.

You'd just go through the already weakened ice, & if you get within her reach she will grab you & you're probably both buggered.

Otherwise, call 999 & keep an eye on exactly where she went in.

www.independent.co.uk/news/ice-rescue-turns-into-tragedy-1527587.html

This is why you don’t try to rescue, and why any advice about ladders and branches is dangerous and wrongheaded, despite good intentions.

Call them back, yes, absolutely. Call 999 yes, definitely. But please please please don’t go out on the ice, however spreadeagled or held onto by someone strong or on a ladder etc.

Even experienced trained firefighters sometimes die in ice rescues like this.

You could try telling them to do this - I made all my kids watch it:

He's bonkers for deliberately jumping in though