On Friday, Feb. 12, a snowmachine accident in Bethel left one man dead; another was medevaced to Anchorage. Around 5:32 p.m., an hour before the start of the 2021 K300 Sled Dog race, a snowmachine carrying two men in their 50s was traveling up Standard Oil Road, moving away from the river.
Bethel police lieutenant Jesse Poole said that the snowmachine was traveling at high speeds around a corner at the same time that a truck, moving slowly, came from the other side. Poole said that the driver of the snowmachine saw the truck and tried to swerve, but clipped the front passenger side of the vehicle. Both occupants of the snowmachine were ejected. One man died at the Bethel hospital, and the other was medevaced to Anchorage.
There were two occupants in the truck, neither of whom were injured. Poole declined to provide the names of the people involved in the crash, citing an ongoing police investigation.
