St. Charles man dies in Wisconsin snowmobile crash

A St. Charles man has died after a snowmobile accident in Wisconsin, the second northern Kane County resident to die in similar circumstances in recent days.

According to the Monroe County sheriff's department, Christopher Hanifl, 38, was alone and driving a snowmobile when he failed to negotiate a curve and struck a tree at 1:26 a.m. Saturday. He was ejected from the snowmobile. The accident occurred on a snowmobile trail off Canine Road in Little Falls.

Another local man died in Wisconsin under similar circumstances last weekend as well. Scott J. Sumoski, 39, of South Elgin, was pronounced dead at the scene of a snowmobile crash Saturday in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin. Also killed in the accident were Jennifer and Nathan Kender, both 26, and from Racine.

Sheriff's police say that Hanifl was taken by helicopter to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse where he died.

The accident is under investigation by the Monroe County sheriff's department, the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Funeral services for Sumoski will begin at 9:45 a.m. Monday at Countryside Funeral Home, 950 S. Bartlett Road, Bartlett, then proceed to St. Peter Damian Church, 109 S. Crest Ave. in Bartlett for a mass at 10:30 a.m.