Man dies after being pinned under snowmobile on Tahoe Rim Trail

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. – Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) deputies and Search and Rescue (SAR) responded to Spooner Summit and the Tahoe Rim Trail on Thursday afternoon after receiving a call of a missing person.

At about 4:50 p.m. on March 29, 2018, Michael Mullins called for help after not being able to find his friend after they became separated while snowmobiling about 15 miles in on the Tahoe Rim Trail.

Mullins said his friend, 56-year-old Thomas Korves of Elk Grove, was not an experienced snowmobiler so he called 911 for help when he couldn't locate him.

Repeated attempts by deputies to reach Thomas via his cell phone met with negative results, so the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team was subsequently called out to conduct a search of the area.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., members of the DCSO Search and Rescue Team located the snowmobile that Thomas had been riding. The snowmobile was pinned up against a tree on a steep embankment off the side of the Tahoe Rim Trail. SAR members checked the snowmobile, and found Thomas pinned underneath it. Thomas was deceased.

DCSO investigators were called out, and their investigation revealed that Thomas had been attempting to ride up a steep hill when he turned at an angle, causing the snowmobile to flip and pin him underneath.

An autopsy confirmed that Thomas died from lack of respiration as a result of his chest being compressed underneath the weight of the snowmobile.