It started with an annual chili cook-off on Lobdell Lake in Argentine Township. Witness accounts suggest upwards of 500 people enjoying the festivities and as many as 75 snowmobiles on the ice. Then trouble struck. A snowmobiling man and woman fell into the ice between 10 and 11pm Saturday night.
“We saw about ten or twelve vehicles (with) flashing (lights),” recalled neighbor Kathy Hampson. “They were there for about an hour and actually more vehicles came, so I’d say a total of about 16 different emergency vehicles were there,” said her husband Ferdinand.
Argentine Township Police tell NBC25 both victims are ok. They were hospitalized for observation. Names have not been released.
“The problem is that there is a flow, a current in the water,” Ferdinand Hampson said. “The lake is very frozen in most areas, and there are a couple areas where it’s not, and that’s where the danger is,” he said.
Police are still investigating the matter. It is not clear whether alcohol was a factor in the accident.
