Missing Maine Snowmobile Riders: Search Suspended in Cold
The men were reported missing at 2:30 a.m. Monday.
Jan. 1, 2013— -- Freezing temperatures and brutal winds have forced the Maine Warden Service to suspend its search on Rangeley Lake for three missing snowmobilers.
Wardens were monitoring the weather on Tuesday in hopes of resuming the rescue, Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service said in a press release. Whitecaps on the lake and temperatures approaching 20 degrees forced the wardens to halt their use of airboats, aircraft, and side-scanning sonar in the search for the missing men.
The missing snowmobilers have been identified as 40-year-old Kenneth Henderson, his cousin Glenn Henderson, 43, and John Spencer, 41.
The three left Carrabassett Valley, Maine to go on a ride together Sunday evening. They were last heard from in Eustis, Maine, according to ABC affiliate WMTW.
The warden service was contacted at 2:30 a.m. on Monday when the three men did not return.
While the wardens searched the lake on Monday to recover the body of a woman in a separate snowmobiling accident, they said they uncovered "several pieces of evidence," including helmets, that led them to believe the missing men may have unintentionally ridden their snowmobiles into open waters.
Divers recovered the body of Dawn Newell, 45, in Rangeley Lake on Monday. The Associated Press reports Newell was snowmobiling with her 16-year-old son when she drove into the open water on Sunday night. Her son was able to avoid the ice and make it to safety.
