Health

Smoke is smogging the air in Bethel as Southwest Alaska remains under an air quality advisory from wildfires sweeping through the Interior region. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued an advisory on Saturday that continues through Monday evening.

This story has been updated to include a video of the smoking plane. Video credit: Greg Lincoln of Delta Discovery.

A plane crashed on the runway in Bethel earlier this afternoon, and there were injuries. Bethel police officers and firefighters arrived at the airport to find a Grant Aviation plane on its side and in flames. 

10:00 a.m. The reported tundra fire off Bethel’s Wildlife Lane on Thursday morning turned out not to be a tundra fire at all. Instead, Bethel firefighters extinguished a burning pickup truck and bicycle in the Old Crow sandpit. The flames did not spread beyond the vehicle.

The laboratory at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation closed down today and will possibly reopen this evening, May 31. A water pipe that’s part of the hospital’s sprinkler system malfunctioned and flooded the lab. 

The body of a woman from Chevak who went missing almost two months ago has been found. The body of Sara Nicholas, 35, who was last seen alive at the Chevak clinic on March 18, was found at 9:42 p.m. on Sunday. She was found two miles from Chevak, heading towards Hooper Bay. She was mostly covered in snow.

Dennis Jones, the Chevak city administrator, confirmed that the remains have been identified as Sara Nicholas. The next of kin have been contacted.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office has requested the body for examination.