1 Survives, 5 Die as Plunge Through Ice Ends Wild Ride

A passenger in a Jeep full of friends thrill-riding across an abandoned strip mine said Friday that he survived a plunge through ice into a 15-foot-deep pit of water by using his head as a battering ram to break back through the icy surface.

Two bodies were later found just under the ice, and three were still in the Jeep.

Joseph Ruse, 24, said he stood shivering on the edge of the pit for about 15 minutes New Year’s night, hoping someone else would make it out alive. No one did.

By the time he led police along five miles of dirt roads more than four hours later, the water had frozen over the pit, hiding the other bodies.

“I’ll never go back there again,” Ruse said.

The Newport Township strip mines, about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, were abandoned years ago, and the mud pits and low brush have become a popular four-wheel-drive playground. Some areas are roped off and marked with “No Trespassing” signs, but dirt roads at many other points are not marked.

“It’s an open area. People out here like to go four-wheeling there. We have incidents every now and then, nothing like this,” Newport Township police Sgt. Carl Smith said.

Ruse and his friends had headed to the mine around dusk Thursday in a pickup truck and the two-door Jeep, which had a newly rebuilt transmission and engine.

Ruse and his childhood friend Steve Nowak, 22, who was driving the Jeep, wanted to test out the engine for the first time in the mud.

The pickup, owned by Charles Smith, blew its engine, a common occurrence on the wet and slippery mud pits, Ruse said. Smith stayed with the truck while the rest of the group, including Nowak’s girlfriend, 18-year-old Jennifer Dragon, piled into the Jeep.

About 100 yards down the road, through thick brush and trees, the Jeep fell into the water.

“I tried to grab this girl,” Ruse said. “I couldn’t get her out.”

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Ruse swam to the surface, bumping his head on the ice several times before breaking through and swimming to the bank.

The bodies were recovered about 3 a.m. Friday. No charges are expected, police said. Three cases of beer were found in the back of the Jeep, but it was unclear if Nowak or the others were drinking.

Killed, in addition to Nowak and Dragon, were Richard Ammons, 42, William Fishburn III, 25, and William Vincent, 31.