The dispatch of two hasty teams by Alaska State Troopers and the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Volunteers back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday prompted AST to make two suggestions for safe traveling in the region.

After receiving a report of an overdue traveler going from Kotzebue to Buckland on Tuesday morning at 4:37 am, AST and the Northwest Arctic SAR Volunteers dispatched a hasty team to search for the missing man identified as 17-year-old Jesse Ahkpuk of Buckland.

Ahkpuk had left Kotzebue at 8:50 pm on Monday night on a snow machine and failed to show up in Buckland. A search of the trail by the hasty team would discover Ahkpuk walking on the trail in good health at 6:38 am. SAR volunteers transported Ahkpuk to Buckland.

On Wednesday, AST and the Northwest Arctic SAR Volunteers would initiate another search and dispatch a hasty team in response to another call that they received at 11:47 pm on Wednesday night. The traveler, identified as Raymond Brown, had left Kotzebue on an ATV at 3 pm on Wednesday and failed to reach his destination of Buckland. At 2:16 am on Thursday, the hasty team would locate this traveler walking on the trail in good health as well. It was reported that Brown had run out of gas on the trail. All searchers and the overdue traveler all returned from the field.

Alaska State Troopers are encouraging all travelers to take advantage of the free personal locator beacons that are available free of charge in each village. The locator beacons can be obtained by contacting the SAR president in the community.

Troopers are also advising that travelers should make sure to carry enough gas to reach their destination with at least a third of the reserve left over to deal with unforeseens.

Temperatures have been below freezing in the area, making travel between the communities that much more arduous.

  buckland, hasty teams, kotzebue, rescue, search, troopers