Tragedy Strikes Wisconsin Pond

A 44-year-old man and his 9-year-old daughter died Friday after falling through the ice of a small pond while skating, the sheriff's department said.

Brian Obbink, of nearby Oostburg, and his 9- and 6-year-old daughters were skating on the football-field size pond Friday morning when 9-year-old Megan fell through, Sheboygan County sheriff's Sgt. Doug Tuttle said in a news release.

The father fell in while apparently trying to rescue her, Tuttle said. The 6-year-old then ran to a nearby residence and someone called 911 at about 11:30 a.m., Tuttle said.

When deputies and the girl returned to the pond, the father and other girl were missing, Tuttle said.

The Sheboygan County Law Enforcement Dive Team found the two bodies Friday afternoon, Tuttle said.

A person who answered the phone at the Obbink home Friday evening said the family did not want to comment.

The pond is 8 to 10 feet deep and the ice was less than 3 inches thick.

Neighbor Bill Schreiber said the brother-in-law of Brian Obbink owns the adjacent farmland and used to own the land the pond is on, but he sold it to the city.

Schreiber said when he returned home from work about 11:40 a.m. he saw two people running from the family farm to the pond, one of them in shorts, in response to the accident, but he didn't think too much of it at first.

"I thought it was a dog accident because I've never seen people on the pond, only guys training their hunting dogs out there," he said. "But I've never heard of anyone skating there before."

At around the same time about 10 miles northwest in the Town of Lyndon, rescuers responded to a report of an all-terrain vehicle falling through the ice of a small pond, according to Cascade Police Chief Cory Roeseler.

After about 25 minutes, rescuers found a 12-year-old boy from Kiel and took him St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan, Roeseler said. Police said he was in critical condition Friday night and had been transferred to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. His name was not released.

The boy had been accompanying a 39-year male neighbor, who was hunting, Roeseler said. The boy came out of the woods before the neighbor and when the man emerged, he discovered his four-wheeler was not there, Roeseler said.

The man found the ATV floating about 25 feet from shore. When he couldn't rescue the boy, he went to a neighbor who called 911, the sheriff's department said.

Sheriff's Deputy Jim Opgenorth said people need to be careful around ice. Early in the cold-weather season, the ice is likely to be thin and weak, but he said it's always dangerous.

"There is no such thing as safe ice," he said. "Does this mean we shouldn't enjoy outdoor sports? No. But any time you're on ice you're at risk."