Man missing on Moosehead has been found safe

This story will be updated.

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

A 25-year-old Fairfield man reported missing during a snowsquall on Moosehead Lake has been found safe approximately five miles from where he was separated from his friend.

Colby Davis was reported missing Thursday night when he and a friend became separated during a snowsquall while riding snowmobiles near Farm Island in Tomhegan Township at approximately 5 p.m., according to Mark Latti, communications director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

His friend called 911 at 6:30 p.m. when Davis didn’t return to camp.

Game wardens searched the lake, shoreline and nearby cabins, but could not find Davis. Winds of more than 25 miles per hour, blowing snow and temperatures hovering around 3 degrees made finding him urgent.

The Warden Service launched an aircraft this morning to resume the search, while more wardens planned to look on the ground when a campowner called at approximately 7 a.m. to say that Davis had spent the night in his camp and was safe, the spokesman said.

Davis apparently became disoriented when he was separated from his friend and drove his snowmobile on the lake until he got it stuck on a pressure ridge. He then walked until he found an occupied camp approximately five miles from where the two were separated, Latti said.

Because there was no cell phone reception at the camp, the owner drove a snowmobile to where he could get a call out to wardens this morning.

While looking for Davis Thursday, the wardens had to help a person whose ATV went through the ice in the same area, hampering the search for the Fairfield man, Latti said. The person wardens rescued was taken to C.A. Dean Hospital in Greenville. A condition was not available Friday.

Ice conditions are extremely variable on many of Maine’s waters, and those fishing and snowmobiling on them should check to make sure they are safe, Latti said.