I have been through the ice three times.
Once as a teenager hunting rats on Lost Cabin lake. Warm spring weather and the edges of the ice had melted away from the shoreline anywhere from a few inches to a few feet. Three friends in front of me, two of them ~200 pounds plus, make the small jump no problem. Skinny little me takes his turn and POOF...GONE! I did manage to hang onto my rifle and swim to the surface with it then to shore. Friends were smart enough to build a roaring hot fire immediately so I could get warm and dry. They also each took off an article of clothing so I could warm up. An hour later it felt good putting on those toasty hot clothes again.
One time a friend and I dropped our eight wheel Argo through the ice on a creek in November ~ -25. Argo's float....IF you have the plugs in........That is when we discovered that the worst kind of MAD is when you are mad at yourself.
And one time I fell through a beaver run about 30 yards away from the lake shore. Everything was frozen solid, I had plenty of distance away from the lake and had no intentions of going any closer and about a foot of snow was on the ground. It had been a long day in the snow and cold, I was a little over a mile away from home on foot and I had it in "hurry" mode to get home before dark. Never saw it coming, just hot footin' it along and POOF!...GONE!
The only thing that saved me was the hole was so tight it peeled my clothing up from the top of my boots all the way to my armpits and left it all bunched up under my armpits. Took me a while to wriggle my way back out then re-arrange my clothes, jump up and down to "lower the equipment" again...squeaky voice.
Then I knew I REALLY had to hot foot it home because it was either move or die. Fortunately I was in very good shape, had spent most of my life walking long distances and could turn on the endurance and speed. I was still a frozen mass of ice and clothing by the time I made it home and I couldn't figure out how to get out of those darn frozen solid clothes. My wife said "Climb in the shower dummy!" and that's when I knew hypothermia was setting in.
Three years ago my brother in law went through the ice on his own pond in his tractor. He was clearing a place for his grandkids and family to skate. He did not survive.
Regards,
Dave.