The Southern Buh near Mykolayiv has long won the sinister reputation of a death trap for ice fishermen. This winter is no exception. Owing to the unexpected thaw gnawing away at the ice, tragedies happen practically every day.
Another body was retrieved from under the ice late last week. At about four p.m. an ice- fishing man fell through the ice. He struggled for his life, but the ice was too thin and broke under his clawing fingers. In addition, his efforts lacked coordination thanks to the considerable dose of alcohol he had consumed. A friend of his, fishing nearby, ran over to help. He tied a sledge to a long rope and tossed it to the drowning man. He dragged him out of the hole but fell through himself. He then climbed out of the water and went home, telling his friend to do the same and the hell with the rod and tackle left by the hole. The man was stubborn and wanted his kit and things, so he stayed. Some time later, his friend returned and found the man missing. He called the rescue service, but his friend’s body was not found by the rescue team until morning (one of the team also fell through the ice just as they were approaching the scene). The scuba divers said the water was thick with blood; trying to get out, the victim lacerated himself on the ice.
The Day was told by the city’s emergency management department that eight such enthusiasts had fallen through the ice over the past several days and been rescued. But this is an official statistic. The river’s actual death toll remains anyone’s guess; some anglers are rescued by friends, others manage to get out of the river by themselves, still others never return home.
The wife of an ice fisherman reported him missing. The man had gone fishing and never came back. The area was searched by scuba divers. A folding stool and a wristwatch were discovered on the bottom which the woman identified as her husband’s. The man’s body was not found and he is still on the missing persons’ lists.
This does not scare men off. After a couple of shots of vodka, they venture out to what could wind up being their last fishing trip on thin ice.
“We can’t help it,” says Serhiy, former worker of the local shipyard. “My wife and I have been jobless for two years. We have to make a living.”
“Don’t listen to those lies,” says “Uncle Mykola,” a pensioner. “The amount of moonshine they drink on each such fishing trip costs far more than all the fish they’ll ever catch. It’s just their obsession. It’s like vodka. You start and then you can’t quit.
In fact, the fishermen themselves testify that somebody falls through the ice every day now that the thaw has set in. Some are lucky, being (made up of five and responsible for all of Mykolayiv oblast; their equipment consisting of two life vests and their pay of 90 hryvnias a
The casualties will be summed up only in the spring when the ice is gone. Last spring a total of 16 bodies were found.
