Two ice fishermen from Hudson, Wisconsin, were rescued Monday night after their 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck sank in the St. Croix River near Oak Park Heights. The men, aged 23 and 24, had been ice fishing for most of the day and were heading back to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources boat launch when their truck became submerged.
According to the Bayport Police Department, the men managed to exit the truck before it sank around 9:20 p.m. Neither of them was injured, and neither entered the water. The men reported that they had been driving along the left shoreline of the river, trying to avoid ice houses, when they unknowingly got too close to an area with open water near the Allen S. King plant. They heard cracking ice and immediately exited the truck just before it plunged into the river.
The truck was fully submerged in approximately 9-15 feet of water, and authorities advised the truck’s owner to arrange for a recovery service. The owner informed police on Wednesday that he planned to have the truck removed from the water by Friday.
