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Two People Fall In Rotting Ice Near Kasigluk; SAR Warns People To Stay Off The Kuskokwim

The Kuksokwim River near Napaimute is breaking up and forming open leads. It's pictured here on April 27, 2018.
Mark Leary

Search and Rescue groups along the Kuskokwim River continue warning travelers to stay off the river ice. It’s turning to needles or opening into leads and has become too dangerous to cross.

Two people have already fallen through the ice near Kasigluk. Both are okay.

The first was a little boy, who fell through a patch of needle ice on Thursday evening. He was able to call for help, and two adults, who were jigging nearby, quickly pulled him out. Less than an hour later, a snowmachine fell through the same hole. Kasigluk Search and Rescue President Wilson Twitchell hopes that there won’t be any more.

“Please take heed to the Search and Rescue, the police, and the Council’s advisement to stay off the river,” he urged.

This cautioning comes as a new threat enters the scene. Friday morning, fresh snow turned the Middle Kuskokwim River white again. Twitchell cautions people to remember what they can’t see.

“It is that much more dangerous with the snow covering the visible warning signs of the ice,” he said. Unseen for now is the brown needle ice lying beneath.

Further upriver in Napaimute, Bethel Search and Rescue member Mark Leary is watching the river break up.

“We had a little action around here yesterday,” he said, laughing.

On Thursday, two leads opened up, one growing longer than the other, only to be filled in with large, broken ice sheets in the evening. As of Friday morning, three open leads have formed in the same place.

“I guess that will be my entertainment for today, is watching these three racing," Leary said. "One is way ahead of the other one already.”

Leary says that the river water is lower than usual but rose 10 inches overnight. And the shore ice is holding near Napaimute as the middle of the river deteriorates. Leary also reports that geese, and even mosquitoes, have made their spring appearance. Boating is around the corner.?

Anna Rose MacArthur served as KYUK's News Director from 2015-2022.