VideoRay Retreives the Body of a 66-year-old Drowning Victim, Keeping Divers Warm and Dry in Perilous Conditions

In what may be the first ever body retrieval with a VideoRay Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), members of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad located and recovered the body of a 66-year-old man from 28 feet of water in the North Arm of Burntside Lake, north of Ely (EE-lee), Minnesota, using the ROV's robotic manipulator arm. SLC Rescue's ROV has been used in several previous successful underwater locations of drowning victims; however, this is the first time the unit has been employed to bring a body to the surface.

A companion who saw the victim's snowmobile break through the ice was able to drive his own snowmobile to a nearby residence and call for help. Upon arrival, SAR responders found a hole about 300 feet from shore with snowmobile tracks leading into it, and no evidence to indicate the snowmobile or its operator successfully exited the water. The incident happened at approximately 3:20 p.m., Wednesday, December 6th, 2006. Burntside Lake is located about 110 miles NNE of Duluth. Its remote North Arm area is accessed via the rugged Echo Trail, which heads northwest from Ely into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

Upon deployment of the ROV, searchers quickly located the snowmobile, then visually located the victim's body approximately ten feet behind the machine. The ROV is also equipped with a small sonar dome for non-visual detections. The ROV operator secured the manipulator arm to the victim's clothing, then directed the unit to head for the surface. SLC Rescue's ROV was recently fitted with new high-power thrusters, which develop 15 pounds of combined thrust. The recovery was made at approximately 10:10 p.m. Wednesday evening. Ice thickness varied from two to three inches in the area of the operation, with below-zero temperatures and bitter winds hampering search and recovery efforts. Total bottom time for the ROV was thirteen minutes, with no humans required to enter the frigid water.

St. Louis County Rescue is made up of 62 volunteers, providing wilderness and water SAR, underwater recovery, and first-aid and public safety services across the 7100-square mile county, as well as mutual-aid support to a much wider area. The unit runs over 300 missions annually. The annual average for water fatalities in St. Louis County is 7.4.

Area residents are reminded that, due to a much warmer than average November, the ice is NOT safe ANYWHERE on northern Minnesota lakes.

VideoRay now has far more Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) in service around the world than any manufacturer, and is delivering additional ROVs at an increasing rate. Weighing just 8 pounds and starting at $5995 USD, VideoRays can be equipped with sonar, positioning systems or other accessories, and are used for underwater surveys, offshore inspections, search and recovery, homeland defense, science, fish farming and a range of applications in underwater environments. The General Services Administration (GSA) awarded VideoRay a contract to supply vehicles to the US government, making it easier and faster for many agencies to acquire one. See http://www.videoray.com/GSA for more information.