HANCOCK COUNTY, Maine – An 88-year-old Waltham, Maine man drowned last night when the side-by-side ATV he was a passenger in broke through the ice.
Floyd Hardison had spent the day yesterday ice fishing on Spring River Lake with his son and two grandsons, and they had packed up their gear, and were riding their ATVS back to their parked vehicles on the shore when at approximately 6:00 p.m., the side by side ATV that Hardison was riding in and was driven by Hardison’s adult grandson broke through the ice approximately 400 yards from shore.
The grandson was able to free himself from the sinking ATV and get out onto the ice, but Floyd was unable to get himself out and sunk to the bottom with the ATV.
Maine Game Wardens, along with the Hancock Sheriff’s Office, and the Franklin and Sullivan Fire Departments responded to the scene. Rescue personnel located the hole where the side by side had broken through, and at approximately 8:25, a fire department member in a wetsuit retrieved Floyd’s body which was still in the side by side, in approximately ten feet of water. Utilizing the Warden Airboat, Game Wardens transported Hardison back to shore and he was transported to Jordans Funeral Home in Ellsworth.
