HATTIE TOWNSHIP (KDLM) – A man nearly drowned when his logging equipment fell through the ice and he was trapped inside near Hattie Township.
The Hubbard County Sheriff received reports of the accident on Saturday, Feb. 6 just before 2pm. As deputies and medical personnel responded to the rural site, additional information came in advising that the cab had filled with water and that other workers were attempting to rescue the now submerged victim.
When deputies arrived on scene, they discovered that the victim had been safely removed from the piece of equipment and was now being tended to by other workers at the scene. A Hubbard County Deputy transported the victim by snowmobile to an awaiting North Memorial Ambulance. The ambulance then transported the victim to a clearing where he was flown to an Essentia hospital in Fargo to receive treatment for possible hypothermia.
45-year old Roy Davis of Barnwell, SC was logging in the area when the John Deere Feller Buncher he was operating broke through a frozen area on the edge of a swamp. The tracked machine then tipped over and became completely submerged in the water. The operator was unable to exit out of the machine’s door or window due to mud and ice. Another worker on scene used an excavator and was able to quickly dig around the machine, freeing the victim and then removed him out of the water.
