ACADIA NATIONAL PARK — Park rangers and Bar Harbor emergency response personnel rescued a man from Eagle Lake Friday morning after he broke his leg while ice skating.

The 56-year-old Bar Harbor resident was skating near the southern end of the lake, more than a mile away from Route 233, when the accident occurred around 8 a.m., according to Ed Pontbriand, supervisory ranger for Acadia. It is the park’s policy not to release the names of people who are injured in the park.

Pontbriand said the man was skating with his wife when he fell and injured his leg. Rangers transported Bar Harbor medical personnel on snowmobiles with attached rescue sleds to the southern end of the lake using the carriage road that circles the lake. They then walked out to the man on the ice, which was between six and twelve inches thick, loaded him onto a rescue sled and towed him to the carriage trail on the east side of the lake.

The man was loaded onto a Bar Harbor rescue truck that was able to drive on the snow- and ice-covered carriage road, and he was driven to a waiting ambulance at the boat launch at the north end of the lake, Pontbriand said. From there, the man was taken to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor.

Pontbriand said the man suffered a broken leg and likely will need surgery. He is expected to be at MDI Hospital for several days, the ranger said.

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