Two trucks are resting at the bottom of Eagle Lake in Aroostook County after residents took on the annual task of plowing a shortcut road across the ice, Game Warden Gary Sibley said Wednesday.

One truck broke through the ice on Monday night while two men were plowing the “road” across the lake, and less than an hour later, a second truck fell into the same hole, Sibley said.

No injuries occurred during the Monday night incidents, though the driver and passenger in the second truck plunged into the lake. The game warden said they were able to get back to shore and make it home safely, albeit wet and cold.

Sibley said local residents plow a road across the lake every year from the town beach to the Slybrook Road. They use the road as a short cut to get to town without having to drive around the lake, he said.

This year Ron Toussaint of Eagle Lake plowed the road with his 1986 GMC pickup truck, Sibley said, and his adult son helped. Toussaint had measured the ice earlier in the day, and it was between 8 and 10 inches thick along the roadway he had marked. Toussaint and his son had plowed the entire roadway and were making “one last pass” when his truck broke through the ice.

Sibley said Toussaint was able to jump out because the ice held up the truck. After getting into his son’s pickup truck, they drove home to the Slybrook Road and called police. Officials contacted the Maine Warden Service and determined there was “nothing we could do that night.”

Toussaint went back to the lake by snowmobile to mark the hole and check on his truck, but when he arrived, his truck was gone.

Sibley said Toussaint had no idea another truck was submerged near his own vehicle.

The water in that area is between 50 and 60 feet deep.

The game warden received a call at about 10:30 p.m. that a second truck had driven into the open water. Jason Dube, 32, of Eagle Lake was driving on the lake in his 1978 GMC pickup truck with a plow attached. He had one passenger, Shawn Tardiff, 37, of Eagle Lake. Sibley said they started across the lake at about 10 p.m.

“They saw open water, but it was too late,” Sibley said. “They went into the same hole Ron had broken.”

The truck and the two men in it sank. Dube said Wednesday that it was a frightening situation: They were 20 feet underwater, couldn’t see, and were struggling to get to the surface. He said it took them about 10 minutes to get back onto the ice. Though wet and cold, they were able to walk home.

“Somebody was watching us,” Dube said.

He added that people should exercise caution on the frozen lake.

“We figured it was safe,” Dube said. “We didn’t know he [Toussaint] had gone through. People need to pay attention to the lake when they’re crossing it. Don’t assume it’s safe just because someone else has gone across it.”

Sibley talked with both parties on Tuesday morning and contacted the Department of Environmental Protection about the incident.

The men have 30 days after the ice is out to retrieve their vehicles from the lake. Sibley said that both men plan to get their vehicles out sooner.

“They plan to lift them out after the ice is a few feet thick,” he said.

Sibley said that with the disparity in ice thickness this year, the safest policy is to stay off the ice.

“People should not be driving on the lakes this winter. Period,” he said.