FALLING through ice... info...and take care, possible rescue

You simply cannot die of hypothermia in 32ºF (0ºC) water in 5 – 10 minutes. However, you can rapidly meet your demise if you fall through the ice or fall into the icy waters. Here is what can really happen:

1. Cold Shock Response – You have just broken through the ice and are now gasping for air, you panic and suck in water. It is an automatic reflex – your body tries to take in air before you go underwater – but you take in water instead. This is a very serious issue for expeditions. It is especially serious for kayakers, divers, boaters or anyone near cold, icy water. In fact, it is the leading cause of death from immersion in very cold water.

It's thought that when the frigid blood from the extremities, 'blocked' from the core by the hypothermic vasoconstriction response, is released back into circulation it can shock the heart. Don't have references or citations, but have heard of several similar cases -- person survives immersion but NOT the rewarming.

Cold shock response is the physiological response of organisms to sudden cold, especially cold water.

In humans, cold shock response is perhaps the most common cause of death from immersion in very cold water,[1] such as by falling through thin ice. The immediate shock of the cold causes involuntary inhalation, which if underwater can result in drowning. The cold water can also cause heart attack due to vasoconstriction;[2] the heart has to work harder to pump the same volume of blood throughout the body. For people with existing cardiovascular disease, the additional workload can result in cardiac arrest. Inhalation of water (and thus drowning) may result from hyperventilation. Some people are much better able to survive swimming in very cold water due to body or mental conditioning.[1]

Kevin Monahan is a retired Canadian Coast Guard officer with more than 20 years experience navigating the British Columbia coast as a small vessel captain.

By the 1990’s the statistics collected by the US Coast Guard and the Canadian Red Cross, amongst others, were telling a story that was no longer possible to ignore. It turned out that in spite of the attention paid to hypothermia over past decades, drowning continued to be a major cause of death.

We had been more correct than we realized, several decades ago. Most victims of cold water immersion actually die of drowning, not hypothermia—and many drowning victims were very close to safety when they died. For instance, the Canadian Safe Boating Council / SmartRisk Study showed that between 1991 and 2000, 41% of those who drowned while boating were within 10 meters of shore at the time. An additional 22% were within 10 to 15 meters of shore. A British study from 1977 showed that 55% of open water drownings occurred within 3 meters of safety!!! And two thirds of drowning victims were strong swimmers.

My brother and his friend died after falling through while ice fishing. It was horrible.