A Jeep Wrangler fell through a thin layer of ice on Turtle Pond in Concord early Sunday morning and was submerged in several feet of water.
Concord police said Andrew Jones, a Raymond resident, and a friend had planned to go fishing on the pond when the accident occurred. The vehicle made it about 50 feet offshore before it started to sink.
Jones, who was the only person in the vehicle at the time, was uninjured, according to the police report.
The vehicle sustained substantial water damage but was safely extricated from the pond, officials said.
Emergency personnel remained on scene for several hours to help Jones and a group of his friends remove the Jeep Wrangler. They used a second Jeep with a tow hookup and attached it to a state-owned truck for added stability during the recovery effort.
The incident was reported to dispatchers just before 8 a.m. at the Turtletown conservation area boat ramp. On their way to the scene, first responders learned that there was no one inside the vehicle and that everyone was safe, Concord Fire Chief Dan Andrus said in an interview Monday.
“Safe to say that it is not the kind of weather that makes driving on the ice a good practice,” Andrus said.
Concord firefighters, police officers and New Hampshire Fish and Game responded to the scene. The state’s Department of Environmental Services also sent an official to check for any possible fuel or oil spills.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319 or at adandrea@cmonitor.com.)