Woman dies after vehicle plunges into ice crack

A northern Saskatchewan woman has died after her vehicle fell into a giant crack in an ice road.

The woman was found Monday morning inside her submerged vehicle on Wollaston Lake.

The Wollaston Lake RCMP detachment said they received a call shortly after midnight from the woman's husband.

He said his wife had failed to return after going the previous day to Points North, a mining camp on the west shore of the lake, to get a new windshield for her vehicle.

Teams on snowmobiles went out to search for her and around 10 a.m. MT, the RCMP was told they had found a vehicle in the lake. RCMP say the driver had missed a detour and went into a "pressure heave crack" that was big enough to fit the entire vehicle.

The vehicle was found hood-down, submerged in about 130 centimetres of water.  People from the community used equipment to remove the woman and the vehicle.

The RCMP said relatives are still being notified and so they haven't released the name of the victim.

The accident happened about 1.5 kilometres away from the community of Wollaston Lake.

Ice roads are temporary roads used to transport people and goods over lakes and rivers during cold-weather months.

With warmer temperatures they become treacherous. Officials regularly issue warnings for people to be careful. However, fatal accidents involving cars and snowmobiles are not uncommon at this time of year.

Wollaston Lake is about 400 kilometres north of the town of La Ronge.