Rescuers pulled a man from the icy waters of the Connecticut River on Sunday afternoon

Rescuers pulled a man from the icy waters of the Connecticut River on Sunday afternoon. The man, whose identity was not provided, had been in the water for about 20 to 30 minutes, estimated Monroe Fire Chief Russell Brown, before a team of rescue personnel and community members worked together to pull him out. The man had been ice fishing in an area Chief Brown described as a bay just below the McIndoe Dam. It’s a spot that’s often used for ice fishing, he said, but ice conditions haven’t been great this winter. The ice beneath the man gave way about 100 feet from the New Hampshire shore. “It was incredible that he kept his head,” said the chief. “He did not thrash around when he felt that he was in trouble.” The man was wearing a heavy jacket and rolled to his back and floated there. “He was literally just floating on his back, and I personally think that saved his life because if he had started thrashing around, the hole just would have gotten bigger; he was not going to get out from where he was,” said Chief Brown. Instead of trying to thrash his way out of the water, the man just laid back and yelled out for help. A man walking his dog across the McIndoe bridge between McIndoe and Monroe village heard the cries for help. He couldn’t see where the cries were coming from but he called 9-1-1 to initiate the rescue response. The chief urged caution to people heading onto the ice.