Rob Wolbert was driving a four-wheeler across the frozen river, followed by Don Barber and Mike Barber on snowmobiles, when all three vehicles broke through the ice at about 6:30 Saturday morning.

Forest rangers and members of the Tupper Lake fire and rescue departments were trying to fish the four-wheeler and a snowmobile out of the frigid water just before noon.

“We were coming across the road, and the four-wheeler went across the ice and went in first. The next snowmobile went across the ice, and they went down,” said Brian Badalucco, who was with the other three men but managed to stop after he saw them fall through.

Badalucco said the men fell through the ice about 40 feet from shore, where the water is approximately 20 feet deep.

Members of the Tupper Lake fire department throw a grappling hook into the Raquette River in Tupper Lake Saturday morning in an attempt to locate a snowmobile and four-wheeler that went through the ice. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

“I jumped off (and) grabbed a rope from the back of my sled,” he said. “They were swimming back, and I threw a rope to them and dragged them back in.”

Debbie Wolbert, Rob’s wife, said a bystander who saw the men fall in called 911 immediately and let the men sit in their truck until help arrived.

“Thank God for them,” she said. “My husband couldn’t even stand when they got him out of the water, so had they not gotten them in the truck, he might have been in bad shape by the time the ambulance got here.”

“Everybody’s fine,” Debbie Wolbert said. “There was three of them that went in the water, but they were treated here at the scene. They’re just home warming up.”

All three men are from New York’s Capital Region, but Wolbert said she and her husband have a house in Tupper Lake.

Members of the Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department use a small boat and pole to try and locate a four-wheeler and snowmobile that were in about 20 feet of water in the Raquette River Saturday morning. (Enterprise photo — Justin A. Levine)

Fire department members donned ice rescue suits and were using a small boat and grappling hook to try and get the remaining four-wheeler and snowmobile out of the river. Wayne LaPierre of the rescue squad put on SCUBA gear and made an attempt to locate the machines, but the cold water prevented him from finding them.

LaPierre was able to successfully locate the machines Sunday morning, and they were removed from the river with the help of heavy equipment.