A 17-year-old Amish youth drowned while cutting ice on a spring-fed pond in Vernon County of western Wisconsin.

Sheriff John Spears said the youth and other boys were cutting ice in the town of Clinton Saturday, Feb. 2. The others delivered a load of blocks to the family's farm and when they returned to the pond the boy was missing. A 911 call was placed from a neighbor's phone around noon.

Emergency crews and two dive teams were called. Rescuers used ATVs and Amish sleds to reach the pond. They found the boy's hat near a break in the ice, according to the La Crosse Tribune.


His name has not been released.