(MIDDLE INLET, WI.)–Shortly before 9pm on Friday night, Marinette county dispatch received a call of a vehicle that had possibly went through the ice on Lake Noquebay near Maple Beach Road, on the north side of the lake. The call was from a fisherman who was on his way off the lake and who spotted the open water and a cooler floating. Once safely on shore, the man made the call. Sheriff’s deputies, Middle Inlet Fire Department officials, members of the Crivitz Rescue Squad and Stephenson Fire Department firefighters using the air boat, were dispatched to the scene. From the air boat and using an underwater camera deputies were able to see a red truck and the body of a male, partially out of the vehicle on the lake bottom in approximately 12-feet of water. Marinette County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team members were also, at a later point, able to recover the body of elderly man. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Deputy Coroner. The death continues to be investigated. He was identified as 79-year old Herbert Lax Jr., of Green Bay. The area, according to Marinette County Sheriff, Jerry Sauve, is dangerous due to the Middle Inlet Creek that flows into Lake Noquebay near Maple Beach Road. Barrier tape has been placed across the end of the road at the lake and cones are in place around the open water where the truck went through the ice. The ice is quickly deteriorating and is deceiving as the ice wears thin from the bottom.
(Aaron Harper,WJNR,WOBE,WHTO)
aaronharper22@gmail.com