Middlesex County OPP say a man killed in a snowmobile crash on Monday morning is a 50-year-old London man.
OPP, EMS and the Ilderton Fire Department responded to a collision involving a snowmobile at the back of a property on Wonderland Road south of Ten Mile Road around 9:45 a.m.
The property owner called police after spotting a snowmobile on his land, and then finding the body of a man on the bank of a creek nearby.
A 50-year-old London man, Mark William Hawkins, was found dead at the scene.
The OPP Technical Traffic Investigation Team is working determine what led to the death and a post-mortem examination is scheduled for Tuesday.
While the cause of death is not known, it appears the driver failed to recognize the creek was there and slammed into the far bank.
Middlesex County OPP Const. Laurie Houghton says "It is the responsibility of the rider to know exactly where they're riding and what kind of hazards may lie ahead. Now given this tumultuous weather that we've been having those conditions can change on a dime. And we just want everybody to be safe and sticking to the trails is the best way to do that."
Last winter, with conditions far from ideal for snowmobiles, OPP responded to three incidents in which four people died.
Police say this is the ninth fatality in eight incidents in the OPP's jurisdiction involving a snowmobile this season and are stressing the importance of sticking to the designated snowmobile trail system.
Houghton says "Snowmobiler safety, we're trying to get that message out. And the trails are there for a reason because they're the safe way to go. They're well marked and they're monitored as well."
A spokesperson with the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs says to their knowledge, none of the fatalities have been on groomed trails.
