Emergency crews work Monday to recover the body of 71-year-oldPierre C. Niesen Jr. after he fell through the ice on Lake Arthur while fishing. Niesen's body was found after about three hours.

FRANKLIN TWP — Emergency crews Monday recovered the body of a fisherman who fell through the ice on Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park.

Pierre C. Niesen Jr., 71, of the Pittsburgh area died from drowning and hypothermia, said Bill Young III, Butler County coroner.

Park officials found Niesen's car parked nearby and traced the license plate to obtain a tentative identification.

Divers with the Beaver Falls Volunteer Fire Department, assisted by Butler County's Water Rescue Team 300 and the Unionville Dive Team, found his body about 1 p.m., about three hours after he was last seen alive.

Park manager Dustin Drew said a visitor called 911 around 10 a.m. to report seeing someone in distress in the lake about 60 yards from an access road near the Route 528 boat launch.

“The caller just saw an arm waving,” Drew said.

Officials found fishing gear near a hole in the ice. Drew estimated the water's depth at the site to be 8 feet and the water temperature at about 32 degrees.

The man was fishing alone and Drew guessed the ice was only 3 inches thick.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recommends a minimum thickness of 4 inches of quality ice for ice fishing.

Divers donned dry suits and carried picks, poking the ice seeking weak spots as they crawled on their bellies toward the search area close to the fishing hole.

They deployed a large inflatable boat along with other equipment and gear including safety ropes, rescue slings, helmets and shuttle boards.Rescuers on the water constantly communicated to one another and to colleagues on the shore, describing any and all findings on the surface of the lake.As time passed and hope faded, the rescue operation morphed into a recovery mission.A Stokes rescue basket rigged with rope was pulled out to the divers. They placed the body in the contraption that was pulled back to shore over the ice.A white blanket was unfurled and used to cover the remains, and the Butler County Coroner's Office was notified.No autopsy was conducted because there was a witness to the incident, Young said.“It was a tragic outcome,” said Nathan Wulff, chief of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department and a member of its dive team, “but it was a good cooperative effort of all the agencies involved.”