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Snowmobiler Rescued After Going Into Messalonskee Lake

February 09, 2010 - OAKLAND -- Lisa Alanis and her son, Nicholas Dane, are lucky to be alive.

They were snowmobiling on Messalonskee Lake on Friday afternoon when their sleds hit open water and they plunged into it.

Dane, 21, pulled himself out onto the ice after several tries, while Alanis, 47, struggled.

Darrell Warren of Smithfield, a contractor who was working on a camp nearby, said, "I heard the boy hollering, 'Help,' and I just went out and came back and grabbed my air hose and threw it out to his mother."

It took three throws to get the 50-foot hose out to Alanis, Warren said, as the ice cracked under his feet.

"It got to her, she grabbed it and she had to help herself up onto the ice a little bit," he said. "I pulled her probably a good 10 to 15 feet onto the ice."

Police Officer Steve Corbett rushed to the lake after a neighbor reported the incident about 1 p.m.

Police Capt. Rick Stubbert said the snowmobiles went into the water about 30 yards offshore, where the lake narrows between the mainland and an island. "There's a strong current right there, which opens up the holes (in the ice)," he said.

He urged people to know the areas where they plan to snowmobile before venturing onto the ice.

Rescue workers treated Alanis and Dane, but they were not taken to a hospital. A weary Alanis was resting at home late Friday afternoon.

"I am very grateful to him," she said of Warren. "If he had not been around, we would have been in big trouble."

Warren, 35, insisted he didn't do anything out of the ordinary when he helped Alanis.

"There was nothing real special about it," he said. "I'm just glad I was there to help."

By AMY CALDER, Morning Sentinel February 6, 2010


Lakes: Messalonskee Lake
Regions: Belgrade


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