Authorities in Baxter County rescued a man Wednesday night after the tractor he was riding slid into a pond, trapping the man up to his neck in the water.
Baxter County Sheriff John F. Montgomery said in a statement that 49-year-old man Eldon E. Cooper was riding along a levee near County Road 1175 north of Mountain Home when the tractor slid off a muddy edge.
Authorities were called around 7:30 p.m. after Cooper didn't show up to meet his wife at church at 6 p.m. She went looking for him and spotted the tractor on its side in the water, Montgomery wrote.
Shortly before 8:40 p.m., "sounds were heard from the tractor," Montgomery wrote, noting officials then "got into the water and found [Cooper] still alive inside the cab of the tractor."
Sgt. Lee Sanders was among the responders who arrived on scene to rescue Cooper. He said Cooper was "submerged in the cab all the way to his neck" and had "one little air pocket that he was living in."
"I don't get that opportunity very often, so it was really joyful," Sanders said, noting his role more frequently entails recovering bodies from water than rescuing people.
Cooper was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries that authorities described as serious and possibly life-threatening. There was no word on his condition Thursday.