Two boilermakers helped rescue three teenage fishermen who fell through the ice on a Lake St. Clair canal in Harrison Twp.

Two of the three anglers were closer to the shore and were fished out relatively quickly when the incident took place at about 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10. The third, a 16-year-old boy, was in the water for 15-20 minutes and nearly drowned, but was treated only for hypothermia and is expected to recover.

Boilermakers Local 169 members Rich Cowley and Terry Sullivan had been fishing on the ice nearby for about four hours and helped in the rescue effort for all three teens.

"We were out there with about 30 or 40 others, and the ice seemed OK," Sullivan said. "We heard a lot of shouting and we looked and saw three kids in the water. It was scary; it gave me a whole new perspective on ice fishing."

Cowley and Sullivan walked off the ice, and joined several others in the rescue effort. Two of the anglers, ages 15 and 16, who were closer to the edge of the canal were thrown ropes and a floatation device, and were pulled in. The ropes couldn't reach the other teen, who was about 40 feet off the canal dock.

"He was a big kid, and you could just see his head bobbing up and down," Cowley said. "He'd get a mouthful of air, and then he'd go back down under for a while. For a while, we thought this kid was going to die right in front of us and we couldn't do anything about it."

EMTs arrived, and one went into the freezing water to save the stricken teen. The victim was placed atop a floatation device, and moved back toward the canal. As they reached the pilings on the canal, an extension ladder was placed onto the ice at a severe angle, the victim was placed on a board, and Cowley and Sullivan were among those on shore who pulled on a rope to haul the soggy, heavy angler out of the water on the makeshift skid.

Sullivan said it appeared as if the boys were fishing on a portion of ice that had a current underneath, weakening the surface. He said the events of that day won't deter him from ice fishing in the future, but he said he would bring along rope and an ice spike in case of trouble.

All's well that ends well. How was the fishing? "Great, the perch were really biting," said Sullivan.