Man dies after fall through ice at pond

Middleborough father had gone skating

Andrews Boroveitz and his wife, Jadwiga Paliwada.

MIDDLEBOROUGH - The cold clear morning air seemed to hold an invitation to go ice skating.

About 10 a.m. Andrews Borovietz told his wife he was taking his skates to Tispaquin Pond, across their private, quiet street, Faye Avenue.

An hour later, when Jadwiga Paliwada couldn't spot her 59-year-old husband through the window, she called 911. Rescuers rushed to the scene from a river just a few miles away where they were conducting open-water rescue training drills. They said Borovietz, who had fallen through the ice, was unresponsive when they found him. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Outside their home yesterday, family members recalled a dynamic and a loving man, who worked as a machinist and frequently went skating on Tispaquin Pond.

"He had the energy of ten 10-year-olds, and that's the truth," said his stepson, Erik Lomba, 27, of Taunton. "He would give anything to anybody. As long as he could help."

Richard Lomba, 30, of Pembroke, another stepson, said, "He loved life. It's a terrible tragedy. Everyone loved to be around him." Borovietz and his wife also have a 13-year-old son, Andrews.

Jerry D'Amato, who lives on the lake, said he heard the fire department's rescue air boat, capable of traveling on ice, out on the 194-acre pond and stepped out to take a look. D'Amato said he sees rescue boats making practice runs there a few times each year, but today's run was different.

"I noticed two firemen on the ice and one in the water," he said. "When they got the gentleman in the boat, I never seen the boat go so fast."

Two firefighters involved in the rescue were taken to the hospital as precaution, said fire Captain Jim Wiksten. Jason DePaolo and Larry Fahey, both emergency medical technicians, were treated for cold exposure and released from Tobey Hospital.

Wiksten said conditions on the snow-covered pond weren't conducive for skating.

"It's just not good ice," he said. "It hasn't been cold enough."

There have been a couple of close calls on the ice this winter.

In Athol on Christmas Eve, a woman and her two young daughters who were out ice fishing fell into a lake and were rescued after a retired firefighter saw them fall. On Dec. 20 in Natick two teenagers were treated at a hospital after falling through the ice at Pickerel Pond.

State officials on Friday urged people to check the strength and thickness of the ice before they go skating on lakes, ponds, and streams.

Bodies of water have begun to freeze over, but with temperatures fluctuating above and below freezing, ice conditions remain uncertain, said Don Boyce, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency in a statement. He recommended that people check with their police, fire, or parks department on whether ice is safe.

John Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com. Martin Finucane of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Adam Sell contributed to this report.