Two skaters, one passerby rescued from water near Toronto Islands after falling through ice

Three people have been rescued from Lake Ontario by Toronto police’s marine unit near the Toronto Islands Monday morning.Police said two people were skating off the shore at the Hanlan’s Point ferry dock when the ice underneath them cracked, plunging them water about 20 feet deep. Officers tweeted that a third person who tried to help also fell through the ice.In a later update, police told reporters the three people — a 20-year-old woman, a 25-year-old woman and 26-year-old man — were found hanging onto a thin layer of broken ice pieces while screaming for help. None of the victims were wearing a life-jacket at the time.“It doesn’t take long before your body can’t survive anymore. If that ice was to break free, they would have went straight down,” Const. Stacy Kellough of the Toronto Police Marine Unit said.The Marine Unit was initially called at 8:35 a.m. on reports of two people trying to swim back to the shore. “When we got over there, we could see something in the middle of the bay between the islands,” said Const. Chris Gibson. “However, we could not get the boat further because of ice.”At the scene, police said two officers swam around 40 metres into the lake where they found the victims staying afloat while surrounded by broken ice. Officers then wrapped a ring buoy around the individuals before pulling them back to shore, with assistance from Toronto Fire.The three individuals were rushed to a Toronto hospital by paramedics where they were treated for hypothermic conditions. One of them sustained serious and potentially life-threatening injuries. All of them are expected to recover.“All three persons were extremely lucky to be located as fast as they were, and to be pulled from the water, it could have been a very tragic event,” Const. Kellough told reporters on the scene.Temperatures in the city were hovering around -3 C this morning. Police are reminding the public to stay off the ice on Lake Ontario, saying last’s week two-day flash freeze was not enough to make the ice thick enough to walk or skate over it.Environment Canada is forecasting milder temperatures this week with forecasts hovering between 5 C and -4 C.In a news release, police said the upcoming warm-up will cause further melting on the ice surrounding Toronto’s waterways, resulting in fast water streams under thin layers of ice that are dangerous for the public.Santiago Arias Orozco is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @SantiagoAriasO6