Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Two men rescued from Lake Gogebic

By JAN TUCKER

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LAKE GOGEBIC — A Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department deputy and a Bergland Township firefighter saved two Illinois snowmobilers from the icy waters of Lake Gogebic Monday night.

Deputy  Jesse Yesney and his brother, fireman Casey Yesney, for the second time in their careers rescued snowmobilers from the lake.

Casey Yesney, as part of the fire department, was paged at 8:44 p.m. that there were two people in the water at Lake Gogebic. The department has no water rescue detachment and Casey and brother Jesse, as they did in January 2010, set out to help.

Jesse Yesney said it was storming and blowing at the time and they had to locate the men. After going from one side of the lake to the other, they called and were able to locate Alex J. Dreznes, and Adnsonio Sonny Sabatini, both 31, from Joliet, on the east shore of the  lake. 

Jesse Yesney called 911 at 9:12 p.m. to inform officials they had located the men.

“They had crawled out of the lake on the ice, through the slush. They were unable to stand and near hypothermia,” Yesney said.

The snowmobiles both sunk into the depths of the lake.

The Yesneys took the men to the Lake Gogebic Motel and stripped wet clothes off of them. The ambulance arrived at the motel and monitored their conditions until they were safe.

It was reminiscent  of January 2010 when they went into the icy waters of Lake Gogebic and rescued three Alabama snowmobilers from drowning. For their heroism, they received the Michigan Sheriffs Association Life-Saving Award.

The two snowmobiles are still in the lake, as conditions were so stormy Tuesday that it was not possible to start an attempt to bring them up.

Jesse Yesney said that because of the moving ice, it is difficult to even see where the sleds went through the ice.  He warned snowmobilers to stay away from the east side of the lake, adding that there is a current there that keeps the area open.