A quick-acting bystander helped save two boys from a frozen lake in Coquitlam after ice on the surface broke beneath them.  

On February 21, two boys, both 10 years old, were on the ice on Oxbow Lake near River Springs and Coquitlam River on Lodge Drive when the icy surface beneath them gave way.  

News 1130 reported that one boy was lying on the ice while the other one had fallen through into the water. In response, several bystanders rushed in to help, including 55-year-old Mitch Muir.

Muir was reported as using a ladder to rescue the boys and bring them ashore by the time emergency responders arrived. Coquitlam RCMP are praising the rescue effort as “heroic”.

The two boys were taken to hospital for assessment of hypothermia and shock.

This incident follows in the wake of two recent wintertime tragedies, one in which a hiker was killed in an avalanche on February 18 near Mount Seymour and another in which an Australian snowboarder died in an avalanche in a closed area near Whistler on February 21.