First responders spent hours Sunday night searching an icy reservoir in their quest to find a missing person who fell through the ice in Wareham, Massachusetts.
Wareham police responded to the area of 786 County Road -- where there is a reservoir and cranberry bog -- for a water rescue around 4:30 p.m.
The Plymouth County Technical Rescue Team (PCTRT) was activated and multiple departments and members of PCTRT responded, including the dive team.
Just before 11 p.m., officials said this is now considered a recovery -- not a rescue -- operation.
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The deputy fire chief in Wareham would not identify the man Sunday night or say why he was out on the ice in the first place, but he did say the man's family has been notified.
Around 12:30 a.m. Monday, the deputy fire chief said the search had been called off for the night. Divers will return Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. to resume their search for the missing man's body, he said.
Some emergency personnel will remain in place on the scene overnight to keep the area secure and to monitor the situation, he added.
Until the search was suspended for the night, the scene remained very active with divers continuing to search the water as low temperatures in the region were forecast to drop into the 20s before rain and snow moved into parts of New England on Monday.
There was a large response to the reservoir, as seen in pictures posted on Twitter by the technical rescue team. The photos showed the dive team breaking up the ice to search for the missing man -- a scene that was also captured on video from up above.
Nancy Andrews has lived next to the reservoir for 49 years, and she tells NBC10 Boston that it's never really frozen.
“You never skate on the reservoir because that’s never really frozen," she said. "It’s like any other pond if you’re not going to have a lot of cold weather continuously, it’s just never going to be safe."
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At the scene Sunday evening, there were several people, who were upset, hugging each other.
Andrews says the reservoir is used as a water source for a nearby cranberry bog, and is very deep.
“I’ve seen children play hockey. My own kids have been out on the bog skating but I have never ever seen anyone out on the reservoir, which is very deep and mucky,” she said.
People have been asked to avoid the area at this time.
