Through the Ice in Meredith Bay today
 

There is a huge crane at the town dock area in Meredith, started around 12:30... something went thru the ice, but I do not know what kind of vehicle. It appeared the vehicle wasn't ON the ice and went thru, but was perhaps driving into a parking space and instead of hitting brakes hit gas, and went into water. It happened between two of the docks...

FLL where are you ?
 

So who do we know that lives in Meredith and has lots of free time on his hands ??? Perhaps someone could venture down to the docks and take some pics of the recovery, to be posted later in the Ooops (Mishaps) section of the PhotoPost.

I was driving through Meredith to go to Hannaford and happened to have my camera with me. I'll post up some shots soon.

The ice wasn't the issue, the driver was. Drove into the open water is what I heard. Headed right for the open water by the docks.

Not an ice problem
 

I heard the same: That he wasn't anywhere near the ice... just drove straight into the lake. I wonder if the driver had a heart attack or something that made them hit the gas rather than the brake... I mean it's easy to see all the open water around the docks... and that truck doesn't look like a skimmer to me.

truck through the ice
 

I heard from one of my friends who works for the Inns at Mill Falls that the truck driver was trying to pull his buddies snowmobile out after it had gone through the ice and they both ended up in the lake.

I posted my pictures up on my picasaweb account

http://picasaweb.google.com/spyboy/2...MeredithTruck#

Kirk

Nice series of photos Kirk. Looks like that used to be a nice truck.

Well, it looks nice and clean now! :D

Hmmmmm.......
 

I don't see any way a sled could go through the ice right now on that section of Meredith Bay. There's full size trucks parked out there. If there was a sled in the drink right there someone was either skimming or being just plain stupid.

Any other stories kickin' around out there?

Is it legal to take GMCs through the ice???
 

Looks like he drove into the water from the ice side. I don't see any broken tieoff poles along the dock in the pics. The cab is also pointed toward the shore. Maybe this happened during the night and his co-pilot Sam Adams mistook this area for the ramp??

Nice pics... Anyone have any idea what a screw up like that costs? Does the insurance pay for it? and do you think they can salvage the truck?

Nope, just Jimmy's brother.....
 

According to the Citizen, this 21 year-old Darwin Award nominee was driving onto the ice for the first time ever at 11:45 at night to deliver a snomo belt to a friend whom one presumes was camping out in a bobhouse somewhere. Did I mention it was 11:45 at night and that he'd never driven onto the ice ever before? Obviously unfamiliar with access to the lake at the town docks in Meredith Center. He realized he was driving close to open water (must have gotten on at the boat ramp and just turned sharply around the dock??), panicked and bailed out of the moving vehicle which then went splash near the docks. Doh!!

The LACONIA DAILY SUN has a front page article and photos of this momentous event in today's edition.

Hancove...

Usually insurance picks up the tab for the truck and the recovery bill. Because the truck is a 4x4 there is a reasonable assumption that it will occasionally operate off-road. If that was a Toyota Camry, there might be an issue....

As far as the truck goes.... its a total loss. It will be sold to a junkyard and parted out.

Woodsy

Nice parts vehicle now.

yup
 

I hope some poor sap does not decide to pull any electrical components out of that truck at the junk yard, but how would they know
Maybe when they get near the truck something would be "Fishy" and they will "bob" around it to the next truck

sorry could not resist

I'm not seeing how the pictures line up with the story. It looks like the truck was between two fingers of the town docks, facing the street with what looks like about 60' of open water behind it. He said he was driving along, noticed the water and bailed. Huh? Did the truck skim for 50' before sinking? That must be some kind of record.

In the LACONIA DAILY SUN story in the link posted by mcdude above the truck sank further out and floated part way in toward the docks. The recovery effort brought it up to the docks to be lifted out.

Yes Merrymeeting, nice and clean now, no road salt. :D

Ahhhh, that explains it. I had only read the Citizen article and they left that part out.

Did any of you divers out there notice that the rescue diver is wearing a wetsuit, not a drysuit? Brrrrr.

The story I heard is he was driving close to the edge of the ice, next to open water, and the ice cracked and broke off, and slid the pickup into the water. He jumped out. It happened at about 11:30am, yesterday Monday, close to the Meredith town docks, which have ice eaters.

Methinks this event may be covered by his comprehensive insurance coverage, if he has it, and if it really covers this? Anyone in the insurance biz out there care to comment?

woulda-coulda-shoulda.....too bad the truck was not equipped with water wings, so it would float on water like the airliner in New York harbor.

It Happened at Night
 

The truck went through the ice at night. I heard it on the scanner sometime after midnight. So it was dark.

My opinion is the driver did not fully realize the impact of the "ice eaters" around the docks. It was a nice looking truck.

R2B

Insurance
 

Someone above had it right, because it was a pickup truck it can be conceived that it would be off road and also because it was not illegal yes it will be covered, but hopefully they are not mean and cancel his policy upon renewal

Our exciting Meredith truck raising is nothing compared to this:

http://www.21stcentury-usa.com/aveo/usairways/

Kirk