A Nova Scotia man says his friend saved his life while they were ice fishing together by rushing out of their hut with one sock on to pull him out of frigid water.
Tim Parsons and Joe Skinner went ice fishing together last week in Orangedale, N.S.
While Skinner was getting changed in the hut, Parsons took a step and unexpectedly fell through the ice.
“Someone [had] cut a big hole in the ice, and I went down probably to my shoulders in the water,” Parsons told CTV Atlantic.
The hole had apparently been left by a fellow fisherman. Parsons says it had not been marked. Making “an opening in ice that is open to or frequented by the public” and leaving it unmarked and unguarded is a criminal offence and can lead to a manslaughter charge if somebody falls in and dies.
Parsons started yelling for help. Hearing the shouts, Skinner ran out of the hut and rescued his friend.
“I would have never gotten out of the hole myself. Never. I would have been gone,” Parsons said.
Skinner then accompanied Parsons on the 15-minute journey back to their truck, in below-zero weather, to make sure his friend was able to warm up. During that time, he says, he saw Parsons “slowing down” and became worried about what could happen.
“I wasn’t coming home without him,” Skinner said.
