Death of father, son on Lake Winnebago a 'freak accident'
Photo courtesy GoFundMe.
A father and son from Sussex died Sunday despite the efforts of emergency responders and medical teams after their vehicle broke through the ice on Lake Winnebago.
Winnebago County Coroner Barry Busby said Derek Doro, 8, died at Mercy Medical Center at 4:35 p.m. Sunday. The boy's father, 40-year-old Andrew Doro, died earlier in the day at Aurora Medical Center.
Flight for Life was preparing to transfer Derek Doro to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee at the time of his death, Busby said.
"There were phenomenal, heroic efforts to save these two individuals," he said.
Emergency crews were called just before 7 a.m. to the lake after the operator of an all-terrain vehicle called for help. The ATV operator saw the vehicle the Doros were in break through the ice about two miles east of the Merritt Street boat launch but did not see the occupants get out of the vehicle, Winnebago Sheriff's Lt. Gordon Ledioyt said.
Andrew and Derek Doro were both removed from the water by divers from the Oshkosh Fire Department. They were taken to local hospitals, where doctors continued life-saving measures, but both later died.
Don Herman, a lake expert with the Otter Street Fishing Club, said on Saturday night he had been in the area where the Doro's vehicle broke through the ice and did not see a crack in the ice. He said the ice is between 12 and 18 inches thick in the area, but warm temperatures on Saturday followed by cold overnight temperatures caused the crack to develop.
"This was a very freak accident," Herman said.
The crack opened near the tree line that marks the road system on the frozen lake. While the route has been marked, no roads have been plowed because of a lack of snow, which allows people to drive anywhere they choose.
Due to the changing nature of the ice, Herman said even if Andrew Doro had checked with a local fishing club about ice conditions, they probably wouldn't have known about the crack.
"The lake's never 100 percent safe," Herman said. "You have to pay attention. Tragedy happened on this 132,000-acre lake."
Jennifer K. Woldt: (920) 426-6676 or
jwoldt@thenorthwestern.com; on Twitter, @ONW_Woldt.