A woman fell through the ice and died and a man went missing when the couple went walking with a dog on a frozen river near Cape Cod early Saturday, reports said.
Local police responded to the family tragedy when they received a call at 9:07 a.m. about a dog that was “wet and appeared to be in distress.” An officer arrived at the scene and rushed towards the sounds of a woman’s screams, The Cape Cod Times reported.
The first officer who arrived on the scene rushed onto the ice and tried to save the woman before plunging into the frigid waters of Bee’s River himself.
A second officer tried to pull both of them out of the freezing river, but also plunged through the ice himself.
Both officers returned to shore and were hospitalized at Cape Cod Hospital.
Rescue divers from the local rescue squad recovered the woman’s body around 11 a.m. She was announced dead at the scene.
When first responders learned that her husband had also fallen through the ice, a crew from the Barnstable County Technical Rescue and Dive Team stayed on the scene until 5 p.m., trying to find him.
The identities of the couple have not yet been disclosed, with the police saying they are waiting until their families have been notified.
The search is set to resume Sunday morning.
Authorities believe that the husband plunged through the ice first, it is unclear at this time what happened to the dog.