LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) -- A Greeley, Colo., man died when the excavation machine he was driving fell into an ice-covered retaining pond in Laramie.

The Laramie Police Department says 42-year-old Tracy J. Whitehouse was driving the excavator at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday when it tipped on its side. The operator's cab broke through 8 inches of ice and was submerged into mud and water.

Searchers first tried to locate Whitehouse in the cab but couldn't find him. A water rescue team found his body in the pond about 5 hours later.

Laramie police spokesman Mitchell Cushman says the body was about 5 feet from the cab's escape hatch and trapped under the ice.

Whitehouse was working for JD Enterprises of Windsor, Colo.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)