UPDATE: Coast Guard suspends search for overdue hunter near Newtok, Alaska

News Release

March 29, 2017 U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Contact: Petty Officer 1st Class Jon-Paul Rios Office: (907) 463-2065 Cell: (907) 209-8731

 

UPDATE: Coast Guard suspends search for overdue hunter near Newtok, Alaska

 

JUNEAU, Alaska – The Coast Guard suspended the search for an overdue 59-year-old seal hunter near Newtok Tuesday night.

 

Multiple aircrews from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak and the Civil Air Patrol searched with Alaska State Trooper ground crews for more than 41 hours along the shoreline of Nunivak Island to northwest of Hazen Bay. Volunteers from the villages of Newtok and Tununak searched with a combination of snow machines and skiffs on the ground and shoreline edge. 

 

Watchstanders at the 17th Coast Guard District command center received a request for agency assistance from the Alaska State Troopers to locate the overdue hunter Monday afternoon. The hunter departed Newtok, Sunday, on a snow machine towing a red kayak. Alaska State Trooper ground crews located the snow machine on the shoreline; however the hunter's kayak was missing.

 

"Coast Guard search and rescue crews covered more than 9,438 square nautical miles in their attempt to find the missing man," said Petty Officer 1st Class Trevor Frommherz, Coast Guard 17th District watchstander. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the missing man during this difficult time."

 

Weather on scene was reportedly 17 mile per hour winds and 5 miles of visibility. 

 

-USCG-