RINDGE, N.H. (AP) – A woman who tried to save her dog and two college students who skidded off a slippery road were recovering after being rescued from icy water in Rindge.

The woman fell through thin ice far from shore on Monday morning while trying to get her dog back to shore, Fire Chief Rickard Donovan said. A short time later, two Franklin Pierce University students plunged into a shallow pond when their car skidded and rolled over.

In the initial incident, a 58-year-old woman fell through the ice on Lake Monomonac around 11:30 a.m. She was about 400 feet from shore, Donovan said, and fell into 6 to 7 feet of water. Neighbor John Strauss and his teenage son, Tristan, headed toward the woman in two canoes, dragging a ladder. Rescuers in water rescue suits also made their way to the woman and helped her into one of the canoes, which was hauled back to shore.

The woman was in the water about 25 minutes. She was treated at the scene, then at the hospital, for possible hypothermia, Donovan said. The rescuers also were evaluated at the scene and one was taken to the hospital to be checked out, the chief said.

The dog got to shore on its own.

In the second incident, two female Franklin Pierce students, age 18 and 19, skidded off University Drive and ended up in Pearly Pond. Donovan said the car landed on the passenger side, about 5 feet from shore, in about 3 feet of water.

Another student went to the rescue.

“He jumped into the water and opened up the door and helped them out and up onto the shore,” the chief said.

The two young women went to the hospital, one with a head bump and the other with a possible neck injury. Their names were not available. Donovan said both injuries seemed minor.

Donovan said even though the pet incident had a happy ending, people should not venture onto ice to retrieve pets. “Give the fire department a call,” he said. “We have the equipment and resources to safely do it.”

The same goes for attempting a risky water rescue.

“They did a great job, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone doing it,” he said, because even with life preservers, the father and son who took their canoes to the rescue were not wearing ice water rescue suits, and would have been in danger themselves.

AP-ES-12-03-07 1657EST