AMBLER, ALASKA-In the early morning hours on Tuesday, the Village Public Safety Officer in Ambler notified the Alaska State Troopers in Kotzebue of an unfortunate accident involving a double drowning that occurred shortly after 1 am that morning on the Kobuk River.

According to reports, two men, Brandon Cleveland, age 21, and Roger Cleveland, age 29, both of Ambler, were out on the Kobuk River setting up fish traps. They were both working from one snow machine. During the course of setting up traps, the two men came upon open water on the river.

According to witnesses, the fishermen attempted to “skip” the section of open water on their Arctic Cat snow machine. Their attempt was unsuccessful and the machine did not make it to the other side of the opening. One of the witnesses to the accident, attempted to throw a line to the snow-machiners, but the current proved to strong. The men were pulled under.

Volunteer searchers were called on to search for the two men. A boat was launched. A short time later, their bodies were recovered. CPR was administered, but to no avail. Both men were pronounced dead at approximately 3 am.

The next of kin were notified of the accident and their subsequent death.