ONTONAGON — A Wisconsin man was killed Friday in a snowmobile crash in Ontonagon County, the third such fatality in the western Upper Peninsula in the new year.

Ontonagon County Sheriff’s Department deputies found a 44-year-old Greenleaf, Wis., man dead after the snowmobile crash about 1 p.m. Friday on Trail No. 3, known as the Bill Nichols Trail, near the Houghton County line.

While the accident remains under investigation, deputies believe speed was a factor, according to a sheriff’s department news release.

Assisting at the crash were the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Aspirus MedEvac, Twin Lakes Fire and Rescue, the Ontonagon County Medical Examiner’s Office and 906 Services and Towing.

The incident marks the third snowmobile-related fatality in the area in the past two weeks, all of them Wisconsin men. A 63-year-old man died Jan. 5 on Trail 8 between M-38 and Kitchie Point Road in Houghton County’s Duncan Township. On Jan. 7, a 56-year-old man was killed near Trail No. 1 in Ontonagon County’s Bergland Township.