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ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – A missing 76-year-old man was found dead in a frozen body of water in south-central Saskatchewan Tuesday. The tragic discovery was made with the help of a family friend and the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT).

On Dec. 13, John Rustad said he was going ice fishing at Willows Dam, which is approximately 10 kilometres east of Assiniboia, Sask. He was reported missing after he had not been seen or heard from.

Mounties say a friend of Rustad’s family took an underwater camera to the same site Tuesday morning and observed what he believed to be a vehicle belonging to the victim.

The URT team arrived and conducted an underwater search about 10 feet from shore, near a pump house. The water was approximately three meters deep in the area and the ice was around 12 inches thick.

The ice fisherman and his dog Clarence were recovered from below the ice. The truck has also been found and is being removed from the water.

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The RCMP Underwater Recover Team found a missing Saskatchewan man beneath the ice near Willows Dam Tuesday. Saskatchewan RCMP / Supplied