Men who fall through ice into freezing lake are filmed fighting for their lives
G2G Good to Great
2020-01-29
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wo walkers were filmed narrowly escaping death when they fell through this ice into the water below – battling not to freeze or drown for 17 tortured minutes.
In the video, Zakhar Sarapulov, 27, and his dad, Boris, can be seen to plunge into the freezing water after the ice suddenly cracked beneath their feet during a hike in Russia.
The pair are then seen thrashing desperately in the water in footage which appears to be taken from an action camera.
Every time the men attempt to haul themselves out of the ice, it cracks beneath their elbows and they sink back into an increasingly large hole.
The Russians had been hiking in a remote region and attempted to cross a frozen lake to photograph wild seals, taking a popular 32-mile route on Lake Baikal from the village of Bolshoye Goloustoye to the work settlement of Listvyanka.
Zakhar said: "At first we were following the route, but then decided to walk on the ice so I could take some snaps of Baikal seals."
The avid photographer said they followed a track left by a hovercraft and claimed that there is a certain part of lake that does not freeze as much as the other areas, even when it is very cold.
Zakhar added: “Did the ice look suspicious?
“Yes, it looked different from what we were walking on before.
“But Baikal ice is a colourful mix of a dozen types of ice.
“You walk on new ice every 20 to 30 metres.
"I was walking ahead and fell into the water first.
“The ice around me started breaking and a few seconds later my dad also fell into the water."
The two men spent 17 minutes trying to get out of the water and when they eventually pulled themselves out, they had to leave their waterlogged backpacks behind due to the weight.
They then had to hike for a further two hours to the nearest village where they were helped by a local.
Zakhar said: "Luckily, the weather was -8C but with no wind."
He added that neither of them fell ill after the ordeal.
Zakhar said that he works with opposition parties against "Vladimir Putin's current regime" and used to work at the HQ of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 43, who fell sick while in prison last year.
In the video, Zakhar Sarapulov, 27, and his dad, Boris, can be seen to plunge into the freezing water after the ice suddenly cracked beneath their feet during a hike in Russia.
The pair are then seen thrashing desperately in the water in footage which appears to be taken from an action camera.
Every time the men attempt to haul themselves out of the ice, it cracks beneath their elbows and they sink back into an increasingly large hole.
The Russians had been hiking in a remote region and attempted to cross a frozen lake to photograph wild seals, taking a popular 32-mile route on Lake Baikal from the village of Bolshoye Goloustoye to the work settlement of Listvyanka.
Zakhar said: "At first we were following the route, but then decided to walk on the ice so I could take some snaps of Baikal seals."
The avid photographer said they followed a track left by a hovercraft and claimed that there is a certain part of lake that does not freeze as much as the other areas, even when it is very cold.
Zakhar added: “Did the ice look suspicious?
“Yes, it looked different from what we were walking on before.
“But Baikal ice is a colourful mix of a dozen types of ice.
“You walk on new ice every 20 to 30 metres.
"I was walking ahead and fell into the water first.
“The ice around me started breaking and a few seconds later my dad also fell into the water."
The two men spent 17 minutes trying to get out of the water and when they eventually pulled themselves out, they had to leave their waterlogged backpacks behind due to the weight.
They then had to hike for a further two hours to the nearest village where they were helped by a local.
Zakhar said: "Luckily, the weather was -8C but with no wind."
He added that neither of them fell ill after the ordeal.
Zakhar said that he works with opposition parties against "Vladimir Putin's current regime" and used to work at the HQ of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 43, who fell sick while in prison last year.
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