Ontario snowmobiler found after writing SOS with coffee grounds

Officers searching for a missing snowmobiler found tracks leading to open water before eventually finding the missing person. | Photo: Ontario Provincial Police

WDIO-TV
Created: January 12, 2021 04:53 PM

Police say a snowmobiler who got lost on a northern Ontario lake was found a day later after using coffee grounds to write "SOS" in the snow.

The snowmobiler, whose name and gender were not released, was reported missing on Manitowik Lake near Wawa on the evening of Friday, Jan. 8. Officers from Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry tried to find the missing person that night but were unsuccessful.

On Saturday morning, an aerial search found snowmobile tracks leading into open water, but officers continued to search the area and found a helmet on the ice more than a kilometer away. They then noticed a large plume of smoke and saw the missing person standing outside a cabin, waving, with the letters "SOS" written with coffee grounds in the snow.

The person was taken to a hospital and released after treatment for injuries that are not life-treatening.