Hero dad dies rescuing son, 4, after they both fell through the ice into frigid pond waters
On the morning of January 26 in Carmel, Maine, 51-year-old Kevin Howell went for a walk with his four-year-old-son. Around 6:30 a.m. and about 1/3 of a mile away from their home, the two were walking across frozen Etna Pond when without warning, the ice broke beneath their feet and both father and son plunged into the icy waters below.
Mr. Howell was able to get his son out of the water and back onto the ice. Unable to get out of the water himself, Howell told the boy to go and get his mother. The brave little boy ran home and told his mom, Katie Howell, what happened.
The mom ordered her son to stay in the house, then she called 911, and rushed to help her husband. Armed with an anchor and rope, she made her way back to Etna Pond.
Upon reaching the pond, she secured the rope to the shore, then went to help her husband, but ended up breaking through the ice as well, and was unable to get out. Penobscot Sheriff Detective Jordan Norton was in the area had heard the 911 call from the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, and immediately responded to the area.
Seeing Katie Howell in the water, he began crawling across the treacherous ice, holding onto the rope, and was able to pull the mother out of the icy water and get her to shore. He looked for the husband but could not find any trace of him.
Detective Norton got the mom back to the house and reunited Katie with her son. By that time, members of the Maine Warden Service and the Carmel Fire Department had arrived to assist. Six Maine Warden Service divers and one State Police diver were called to the scene, and once the ice diving equipment and dive tenders had arrived and got set up, two Warden Service Divers began diving at approximately 1:40 p.m. this afternoon.  The divers recovered the lifeless body of Kevin Howell less than 20 minutes later.
Maine Warden Service divers recover the body of Kevin Howell, the Maine man who died rescuing his son who fell through the ice into frigid pond waters.
Image credit: Maine Warden Service
Kevin Howell was employed as the Town Of Carmel’s Town Manager, according to the town’s website. For more on the tragedy in Carmel, see the video accompanying this article.
Video:
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(Source: Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office)
(Cover photo of Kevin Howell, Image credit, Town of Carmel)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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