Night crashes, One killed, one injured in snowmobile collisions

Posted Jan 26, 2012 By Sherry Haaima

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A snowmobile slammed through an ice shack on the east end of the Madawaska headpond.

A snowmobile slammed through an ice shack on the east end of the Madawaska headpond.

EMC News - It was a deadly weekend for snowmobilers in the region.

A 31-year-old West Carleton man is dead and a 27-year-old Pakenham area man is in serious condition in two separate collisions on the Ottawa and Madawaska rivers. As well, there were reports three snowmobilers were hurt when three machines collided near Calabogie.

Joe Leafloor, a prominent member of the MacLaren's Landing community, was killed Saturday night when his snowmobile hit a bank along the Ottawa River on the Quyon side across from his home (see story Page 2).

The night before, the Pakenham man suffered serious head injuries when the snowmobile he was driving crashed into an ice shack on Madawaska Lake early Saturday morning. The man was transported to an Ottawa hospital in critical condition after his snowmobile hit the ice-fishing hut on the Madawaska head pond southeast of Arnprior.

The OPP and paramedics from both Ottawa and Renfrew County responded to the crash.

Mississippi Mills fire chief Art Brown said his fire department was called at 1:19 a.m. and responded with half a dozen firefighters. However, the victim was being loaded into an ambulance when they arrived, so they were not needed.

The hut owner, Marty Desarmia of Carleton Place, has been ice fishing on the lake for 10 years and has his ice hut in that spot for the past five.

Fortunately, no one was in the hut at the time of the incident. Desarmia's son was going to go to the hut that night with four or five friends, but they opted to play hockey instead.

OPP and Ottawa Police are investigating the incident.

In all, five snowmobilers were killed in Quebec on the weekend. The death toll for snowmobilers in the Ottawa-Gatineau area has risen to 11 this winter, despite there being a slow start to the snowmobiling season.

sherry.haaima@metroland.com