The search continues at Keyhole Reservoir northeast of Moorcroft in Crook County for two people on a UTV who drove on the ice and apparently sank.
They were at the scene to help with a separate ice breach incident involving a man who made it out of the water.
According to a Friday statement by the Crook County Sheriff’s Office, a man fell through the ice at about 9 p.m. Thursday evening while driving his UTV on Keyhole Reservoir.
While the 911 center was on the phone with the man, who was saying he had made it out of the water and was lying on the ice, three more people arrived on scene riding in another UTV.
The statement describes the three people as “local citizens.”
Witnesses lost sight of the UTV as it traveled across the reservoir.
Meanwhile, authorities found the man who had originally reported falling through the ice.
Then they found a second person, whom they removed from the ice, the statement says.
“The second individual was one of the three individuals on the second UTV… that they had driven into open water,” the statement reads.
Two other men in the UTV have not been found.
The two males who were rescued were taken by ambulance to Campbell County Memorial hospital for medical treatment, the statement says.
Winds on the lake gusted at between 40 and 50 miles per hour and were accompanied by poor visibility and frigid temperatures, according to the statement. Search and rescue operations were suspended at about 11 p.m., until Friday morning.
Search and rescue missions resumed at about 7:30 Friday morning.
Crook County Sheriff’s Office ice rescue units entered and walked to the second UTV’s suspected breach area.
“There was a substantial area of open water,” the statement reads, adding that search and rescue units had not found the other two men as of midday Friday.
“More equipment and resources have been requested by Crook County Homeland Security to continue the mission,” the statement concludes.
