By Denise A. Raymo
Press-Republican
FORT COVINGTON, N.Y. — One snowmobiler died when his machine fell through the ice of the Salmon River; continued search on Monday failed to find a second man.
The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon; the body of the first man was located that evening, a press release from the Franklin County Department of Emergency Services said on Monday.
”... with respect to the family, the victims’ names will not be released at this time,” it said.
Both men are residents of Akwesasne, the release said, though it did not specify whether their residences are on the United States or Canadian side of the Mohawk community.
MANY VOLUNTEERS
The staging area for the search was about 2.5 miles off Drum Street Road on a one-lane narrow street that runs parallel to Water Street in Fort Covington, past the U.S. Customs site at the international border.
The Hogansburg-Akwesasne Fire Department led the effort on Monday with the assistance of Emergency Services, the Cold Water Rescue Team from the Fort Covington Fire Department, Fort Covington EMS and Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service.
And volunteers were using airboats about an eighth of a mile offshore and along the riverbank and marshes to search for the missing person, Franklin County Emergency Services Assistant Director John Bashaw II said.
The search was suspended on Monday as darkness fell, he said.
About 30 people were taking part in the search, he said, with each working in 90-minute increments then breaking off to get warm in a converted bus the Hogansburg-Akwesasne volunteers brought to the spot.
Franklin County Dispatch Communications Specialist Jamie Gratton said Fort Covington Emergency Services had an ambulance there on Monday morning so the volunteers could go inside and get warm in between stints outdoors.
The wind-chill factor was at times 32 degrees below zero at the staging area along the river where the search was concentrated, he said.
Franklin County Fire Police assisted with traffic control, he said.
UNSAFE ICE
Even with the extended number of sub-zero days the North Country has experienced in the past several weeks, it is not unusual to find areas of unsafe ice on the frozen river, Bashaw said.
St. Lawrence River currents keep the water from freezing completely in smaller tributaries, such as the Salmon, he said.
More details will be added to this report as they become available.
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©2015 the Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, N.Y.)