Alaska State Troopers say a man’s body has been recovered from the Kuskokwim River just downstream of Akiak.
Troopers said that they were notified that a boater had found a body on the morning of Aug. 8. They have not said whether the man is one of two missing boaters that search and rescue crews have been searching for since a boat capsized in the area on the evening of July 27.
But Akiachak Tribal Police Chief Mark Mata, who is helping coordinate the search, said on Aug. 9 that the man whose body was recovered was one of the missing boaters.
Mata said that the body was found floating in the mainstem of the river early on Aug. 8 by a passing boater not involved in the search who was headed downriver after a supply run to Akiak.
"It just happened he was in the right place at the right time," Mata said.
Volunteers in at least a dozen boats from villages up and down the river, including Akiak, Akiachak, Bethel, Kwethluk, and Tuluksak, have been searching the Kuskokwim near Akiak for nearly two weeks, looking for the two missing boaters.
Another passenger who was on the boat survived the incident and was found clinging to the riverbank in a shortcut slough just below Akiak the same evening.
Mata said that search and rescue crews will continue daily searches until the other missing boater is located.
"Today's search, they're focusing where exactly that body was found, that area," Mata said.
Troopers said that the man’s body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office for positive identification and autopsy.
