According to the Alaska State Troopers, they received a call on Tuesday afternoon at 5:13 pm that a snowmachiner traveling from New Stuyahok to Dillingham was overdue.

54-year-old Dillingham resident Phillip Andrew was traveling with two other hunters as they were returning from a hunting trip around the New Stuyahok area when he got separated from his party in a blizzard near the Iowithla River.

The other two hunters he was traveling with turned around and searched for Andrew, failing to find him, they returned to Dillingham.

It was reported that Andrew lacked communication or a GPS device.

The area was suffering from reduced visibility because of blowing snow and strong winds all day on Tuesday. The Alaska State Troopers contacted Dillingham Search and rescue who sent out two searchers on snowmachines. The searchers traveled to the location where Andrew was last seen late Tuesday, but were unable to locate Andrew in the inclement weather and were forced to return to Dillingham.

With weather still unfavorable on Wednesday morning, searchers from Dillingham and Aleknagik resumed their efforts to find Andrew, this time they were joined by an Alaska State Trooper helicopter. Limited visibilty hampered the search efforts of the helicopter however, and it was forced to return to King Salmon.

Efforts on the ground continued, and at 10:45 am, Andrew was located several miles east of Wood River in the tree line. He had taken shelter there after his machine ran out of gas.

He was found to be in good condition and was brought back to Dillingham.