GRANDVILLE, MI -- Firefighters borrowed a boat from Dick's Sporting Goods at the Rivertown Crossings Mall to rescue a teen who fell through the thin ice of a pond and was trying to keep his head above water for 25 minutes.
Mall security staff rushed to Dick's Sporting Goods after they learned of trouble on the small pond at the northwest corner of the mall property.
Georgetown Township firefighters, dressed in ice rescue suits, managed to use the boat to reach the teen and pull him into the vessel.
He was reportedly talking to rescuers before being transported to the hospital for hypothermia.
Related: Water rescue of teen in pond by RiverTown Crossings
"He kept himself above water until we could get there," Grandville Fire Lt. Scott Veldman said.
It was not clear why the teen, reported to be 15 years old, was out on the ice.
Veldman estimated the ice is about 1 inch thick or less.
Georgetown Township firefighters made the rescue, in part because Grandville's ice rescue equipment was with a truck currently out of service.
"Unfortunately, it was an oversight on our part," he said.
Georgetown Township rescuers were on the scene only a few minutes after Grandville rescuers arrived, he said.
Veldman warned people to stay off the ice because of its instability.
Bystander Steve Snoeyink, who watched the rescue, described how the teen told others on the shoreline that he didn't think he could make it.
They encouraged him to hang on. He was clinging to the edge of the ice.
It was moments later that he was rescued.
Ben Bekius, a department manager at Dick's, said mall security staff rushed into the store in the early afternoon to ask for help.
They ran and retrieved a bass boat, still wrapped in plastic, from a back room. Dick's staff and mall security ripped off the plastic and loaded it onto a trailer.
Moments later, security returned for oars and a life preservers.
Bekius said Dick's staff was happy to help.
E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison
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