HARTLAND — Maine Warden Service officials said Monday afternoon that a fisherman missing on Great Moose Lake since Sunday night is William Witt, 66, of North Road in Harmony.

Warden service divers and game wardens in boats continued the search Monday for Witt whose boat was found on the lake Sunday night.

The Warden Service got a 911 call about 7 p.m. Sunday that a boat was in the water, going in circles, said Lt. Kevin Adam, search and rescue coordinator from Warden Service Division D headquarters in Greenville. He said when wardens responded, they found the boat had no operator.

The search Monday concentrated in an area of the lake about a mile west of the boat landing off Great Moose Drive.

Most of the lake is in Hartland, but a section of it has access from Harmony, to the west. Both towns are in Somerset County.

Adam said game wardens searched the lake shore Sunday night by boat and with an airplane, then suspended the search when night fell. Wardens resumed the search with boats and divers Monday morning in an area called Pickerel Cove.

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Adam said Witt was alone in the boat.

“We haven’t found him. We’re continuing the search,” Warden Service spokesman Doug Rafferty said late Monday afternoon. “If we don’t find him today, we’ll be back tomorrow.”

Great Moose Lake is off state Route 43, east of Athens. The boat landing is about three miles from the state road.

Adam said there were seven Warden Service divers in the water, with 11 total game wardens participating in the search.

He said the water in that section of Great Moose Lake is 8 to 15 feet deep.

Adams said searchers have not found any clothing, equipment or floatation devices to indicate where Witt may have fallen into the lake.

He said the divers can see a distance of 6 to 10 feet in the water and stay down for up to an hour because the water is warm this time of year.

“It’s a typical water search,” Adam said. “We have an area to search, then we have to find the area inside the area.”

Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com


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