An airboat is used early Saturday to search for a 74-year-old Bradford man whose snowmobile had broken through the ice Friday on Seboeis Lake in T4 R9, southwest of Millinocket in Piscataquis County. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife photo
Divers from the Maine Warden Service recovered the body Saturday morning of a Bradford man whose snowmobile had broken through the ice Friday on Seboeis Lake.
Allen Cole Jr., 74, was out Friday afternoon on his 2006 Arctic Cat with his dog, looking for areas to ice fish, according to Mark Latti, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Seboeis Lake is in T4 R9, southwest of Millinocket in Piscataquis County. Bradford is in Penobscot County, about 22 miles northwest of Bangor.
Latti said Cole was last seen by another angler at about 2 p.m. Friday. At a boat landing, Cole told the man he was headed out to another area to fish. Cole never returned.
Cole’s family reported him missing at about 7 p.m. Friday.
A search began around the lake and its shore, according to Latti. At about 10 p.m., game wardens found Cole’s dog, which was alive and well, and discovered snowmobile tracks leading to a large hole in the ice, with no tracks on the other side.
Early Saturday, divers from the Maine Warden Service, accompanied by an airboat and a hovercraft, returned to search the water below the open area. Divers recovered Cole’s body at about 9 a.m.
The incident marks the second time this month a Mainer has died after breaking through the ice while operating a vehicle.
Early on Jan. 1, Jeremiah Meader, 42, of Smithfield was driving himself and three passengers across North Pond on a utility terrain vehicle, when the UTV broke through the ice. Meader’s passengers managed to escape. His body was recovered later that day.
In a statement to the news media, Lt. Tom Ward of the Maine Warden Service reminded people to always be cautious and check ice conditions before heading out.
“While ice may be safe on smaller lakes and ponds,” Ward said, “many of Maine’s larger lakes still have not frozen completely.”
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