A woman in Maine was plunged into icy waters as she drove across a frozen lake during an ice fishing trip in a terrifying ordeal.
Leanne Tapley was driving her brother’s pickup truck across the frozen Moosehead Lake over the weekend when the car quickly plunged through the broken ice.
In a split second, the mother of two sank with the truck at around 1am on Sunday as she was heading back to shore to use the bathroom.
‘Last night was one of the scariest nights I’ve ever experienced in my life,’ she wrote on Facebook.
She and her husband were no strangers to ice fishing, and said that the 36 inches of ice should have been ‘more than enough ice for a truck.’
‘That is exactly what we’d been measuring, give or take an inch or two,’ she said. ‘However… I found a pressure ridge and the truck sank, very quickly I might add.’
Tapley told Bangor Daily News that she had changed her route after she had noticed a slushy area on the ice earlier in the day, but there were no signs that the ice she was driving over wouldn’t support her.
‘There were no signs of weak ice. No puddles, no major cracks, no slush,’ she said.
Leanne Tapley was driving her brother’s pickup truck across the frozen Moosehead Lake over the weekend when the car quickly plunged through the broken ice
In a split second, the mother of two, seen with her husband Chase, sank with their pickup truck at around 1am on Sunday after driving back to shore to use the bathroom
Tapley said their ice fishing group were measuring the ice to be around 36 inches thick, which she said is ‘more than enough’ to hold a truck
‘I was freaked. I couldn’t believe that it was happening,’ she added.
Luckily, the truck did not become fully submerged and Tapley was able to open a window and crawl out of the vehicle.
She had sat on the door of the truck, but slipped backward fearing the truck would continue to sink below the ice.
‘My legs were still in the truck, but my back was in the water,’ she told the outlet.
As she was able to pull herself onto the hood of the truck, her husband came over with the rest of the group and helped her onto the ice.
‘Long story short, I am perfectly ok,’ she wrote on Facebook.
Tapley said that her brother, Jake Fitzpatrick, had quickly picked up the phone call she made and he ‘sent the whole crew running to help.’
‘I am ok, everyone on the ice is ok, the battle now is to find someone who can help us in getting the truck out,’ she wrote.
Luckily, the truck did not become fully submerged and Tapley was able to open a window and crawl out of the vehicle. Her brother and husband came over to help her out of the water
Tapley was rescued after her brother Jake, seen pictured with her, picked up the phone on the first ring and ‘heard is sister’s panicked desperation’
Tapley said the experience hasn’t deterred her from ice fishing, but she won’t be driving a truck over the ice again
Tapley’s father, Craig Fitzpatrick, said in a separate post that Jake ‘heard his sister’s panicked desperation and, as is typical of him, he rushed towards danger with reckless abandon, caring nothing for his own safety or a replaceable pick up.’
Tapley commented on the post: ‘I wouldn’t choose anyone else to be my brother!
‘We don’t always tell each other that we love each other, but sometimes actions are much louder than words.’
Now, plans are in place to get the truck out of the ice on Wednesday, the outlet reported.
Later in the day, she shared photos from their time on Moosehead Lake – their first time ice fishing on that particular lake.
‘On a more positive note,’ she wrote. ‘First time fishing on Moosehead and it did not disappoint.’
‘We were hardly able to take a break long enough to eat. I caught my first ever lake trout, as well as Jake and Justin. And Vanessa absolutely hammered the cusk… so many cusk!’
The terrifying experience, however, hasn’t deterred Tapley from returning to the ice.
‘Will I be back? Yes, absolutely. Will I be driving a truck on the ice? No, absolutely not.’
