Two men died and a third has been hospitalized after their snowmobiles fell through the ice Friday night on Seeley Lake.

Missoula County sheriff’s spokeswoman Paige Pavalone says the 45-year-old survivor was hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia.

The names of the two men who died, ages 27 and 29, were not released.

Five men were trying to cross the lake on snowmobiles when three fell through the ice at about 6:45 p.m. The other two made it safely to the shore.

One of those two crawled back across the ice on his belly and pulled a third man, who was yelling for help, out of the water, Pavalone said.

The survivor was found at about 8 p.m. 

A helicopter from Two Bear Air in Flathead County located the bodies of the other snowmobilers shortly before 10 p.m. and assisted in their recovery.

The men’s avalanche bags, designed to help a person stay on top of the snow during an avalanche, had deployed and kept them afloat.

The three snowmobiles remain in the lake.

Pavalone said Seeley Lake is a popular recreation spot in the winter. But this year, she said, “the lake was not completely frozen over. It has been unseasonably warm and mild.”