Wife rescued, husband dies after falling through ice

Maine Warden Service divers prepare to go into the water to search for a Carmel man who broke through the ice Friday morning. (MDIWF photo)

CARMEL, Maine - The Maine Warden Service dive team recovered the body of a Carmel man who fell through the ice on Friday.

Kevin Howell, 51, of Carmel, had gone out for a walk this morning with his four-year-old-son and were crossing a portion of Etna Pond when both of them broke through the ice around 6:30 a.m., about a 1/3 of a mile from their house.

Howell was able to get his son out of the water and onto the ice, and told him to get his mother. The boy ran home and notified his mother. The mom told the young boy to stay at home, she called 911, and she rushed to help her husband. On her way, she grabbed an anchor and rope and ran down to the water.

Upon reaching the shore, the mom secured the rope to the shore, then went to help her husband, but ended up breaking through the ice as well, and was unable to get out.

Penobscot Sheriff Detective Jordan Norton was in the area and had heard the 911 call from the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, according to a statement from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife sent on Friday afternoon. He immediately responded to the area, and seeing the wife in the water, he began crawling across the treacherous ice, holding onto the rope, and was able to pull the mother out and get her to shore. He looked for the husband but could not find any trace of him.

Norton got the mom back to the house and reunited her with her son. At that point, members of the Maine Warden Service and the Carmel Fire Department had arrived to assist.

Six Maine Warden Service divers and one State Police diver were called to the scene, and once the ice diving equipment and dive tenders had arrived and set up, two warden service divers began diving at around 1:40 p.m. The two divers located the victim a little before 2 p.m.