Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
Two local men died during a search and rescue effort at Keyhole State Park that began on Thursday and continued until dusk on Sunday.
The Crook County Sheriff’s Office received a call on December 15 at around 9:10 p.m. that a male subject had fallen through the ice while driving his UTV on the reservoir.
Dispatch spoke to the subject on the phone, who said he had made it out of the water and was lying on the ice.
Pine Haven Fire and EMS were paged and arrived at approximately the same time as three local citizens, who drove a UTV onto the ice. Witnesses stated they lost sight of the UTV as it went out across the reservoir.
The original subject and a second person were located and removed from the ice by the Sheriff’s Office, Keyhole State Park, Pine Haven Fire and EMS, Moorcroft Fire and EMS and Wyoming Game & Fish. The second person is believed to have been one of the people on the second UTV.
The second UTV is believed to have driven into open water and the other two male individuals were not immediately located.
The two rescued men were taken by ambulance to Campbell County
Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Search & Rescue operations were suspended at 11 p.m. due to the gusting wind and snow, poor visibility and frigid temperatures.
At around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, the missions resumed. Sheriff’s Office ice rescue units walked to the area the UTV is suspected to have headed, where they found a substantial area of open water.
Search & Rescue could not locate the missing individuals, but found evidence of a possible entry point where the UTV entered the water.
At 11 a.m., efforts to find the two missing men were reclassified as a recovery mission. Those efforts continued for two days.
On Sunday afternoon, December 18, at around 4 p.m., the two individuals were finally recovered.
The Crook County Sheriff’s office has thanked all those involved for their support during an extremely difficult mission and sends thoughts and prayers to the families and the community of Pine Haven.
