Since the holidays are just around the corner, a lot of people are spending time participating in ice-related activities, like ice-skating and ice-fishing, etc. It is important for you to know how to survive if you are unfortunate enough to fall into the water down below ice.
There are plenty of ways you can fall into an icey lake and become trapped under sheets of ice: not openning your eyes while walking into an ice-fishing site, not ice-skating in a public ground where ice is thick and maintained, wanting to save time by walking across an icy river, the list goes on.
However, if you do fall below ice, here are some tips:
- You must remain calm, and grab on to surface. Make sure that you are getting out to the direction you came from, as that side of the ice will be stronger to be hold on to.
- Stretch your arm onto the ice and kick your leg to get out of the hole, then,
- Try to distribute your weight on the ice as evenly as possible. Do not stand up once you are out of ice hole, try to crawl and roll away until you are far enough to safety.
- After you’re safe, get changed into dry cloth and stay warm. Drinking warm, non-alcoholic fluids would be a good idea; get treated for hypothermia as soon as possible.
If you see anyone falling into the ice hole, do not get close, but do get ropes and stuff for the person who fell into the ice to hold on to, pull them out. It is never a bad idea getting more help before you help someone.
Hope you learned how to survive when you fall into ice. Hopefully you have a safe, dry and warm winter with all your icy activities. If you missed it, you can check out part one of this series on Practical Disasters here.
Happy Holidays to you all!!!
