Updated

A 27-year-old man who fell through the ice while walking home in the dark survived the frigid plunge thanks to a neighbor who skidded across the pond in a canoe.

Rescuers and neighbors could hear Jason Dubois' cries for help but could not initially see him in the dark at 2 a.m. Sunday as he was treading water in Whitman's Pond in Weymouth.

"It was very disturbing. He was saying, 'I'm going down. Don't let me die.' It was really scary," neighbor John Volta said. "I just grabbed the canoe and went off like on a skateboard out to him and then the ice started to crack, so I just pushed it as far as I could and then the fireman came up beside me."

Dubois was treated for hypothermia and released from a local hospital.

Authorities say they were lucky to have the canoe to help the rescue. A fire station a half-mile from the pond has an ice boat, but the station was closed because of budget constraints.

"The ice boat out of station (No.) 3 was donated from a mother of a son who drowned in that pond. It's named after her. And that boat never left the barn," Weymouth Fire Capt. Mike Crowley said.