2 die after plunge into Lake Minnetonka

Two people drowned after their car went through a Lake Minnetonka channel on Saturday.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified them as Mary Ann Haram, 87, and Harland Dietrich, 31. The medical examiner says both died around 7 pm Saturday evening at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Emergency responders were alerted when the man called 911 about 2:25 p.m. Saturday and said his car was sinking.

Responders found the car submerged under the Gray's Bay Bridge.

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Divers pulled Dietrich and Haram from the water. Dietrich was flown by helicopter to Hennepin County Medical Center and Haram was taken to HCMC by ambulance.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said no witnesses have come forward to help explain why the two happened to be on the lake at a place marked with signs warning of thin ice.

The Sheriff's Office said that vehicles or snowmobiles have fallen into Lake Minnetonka 14 times since the beginning of the year. In one of those incidents, a baby girl drowned.

In almost all cases, the incidents happened at channels or pressure ridges in the lake's ice, says Lisa Kiava, Hennepin Sheriff's public information officer

Stanek said he was frustrated by the number of incidents.

"We've said it time and time and time again," he said. "And yet we continue to have these tragedies. People have to be aware of their surroundings. They can't just ignore thin ice signs. They can't just ignore what's happening around them."