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Body Recovered From Open Water Near Tuluksak Identified

Volunteers search for the body of Peter Sallaffie in an open hole in the Kuskokwim River ice near Tuluksak, AK on Jan. 9, 2021. Sallaffie drowned in the open water on Jan. 1, 2021.
BSAR

The body of the man pulled from the open hole near Tuluksak has been identified as Joseph Hale of Hooper Bay. Hale and another man, Peter Sallaffie, drove their snowmachines into an unmarked open hole in the Kuskokwim River ice near Tuluksak on New Year's Day.

Volunteers from Tuluksak and nearby communities recovered Hale’s body that same weekend. They have returned to the open hole every day since, looking for Sallaffie's body. 

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