Local men die in snowmobile accident
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SEELEY LAKE — Two local men died in a snowmobiling trip gone awry over the weekend.
Derek Flesch, 25 of Pablo and Kurt Starkel, 28 of Belgrade left a Seeley Lake restaurant Friday night on snowmobiles with three others and headed south on the frozen lake in a linear pattern, according to Missoula County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Paige Pavalone. Two of the people made it safely to the other side, and then heard shouting on the lake. One of the men crawled back out onto the ice and saved a third snowmobiler who had fallen through the ice.
The other two snowmobilers could not be located. Missoula County Sheriff’s Office and Seeley Lake Search and Rescue searched for the missing men, but it was dark and there was little indication of where the men were, Pavalone said.
The men were found deceased by Two Bear Helicopter of Flathead Valley later that evening.
Starkel was originally from Ronan.
