Alaska State troopers released additional information on the boating accident that took place on the Yukon River earlier this week that left two dead and another missing.

According to the trooper dispatch, a fourth person was located alive on the banks of the Yukon on Tuesday. That person was identified as 21-year-old John Chikigak. The identities of the three other occupants of the 18-foot Lund skiff were also released. Confirmed dead were 29-year-old Daniel Noble, and 50-year-old Cyril Murphy. The fourth person, 24-year-old Stanton Shelton, is still missing and is presumed deceased.

According to Chikigak, the four men were returning home to Nunam Iqua from Emmonak late Monday afternoon when they discovered a crack in the hull of their craft. The men attempted to bail the water from the skiff but ultimately decided to pull the drain plug and bring the skiff up on step to drain the water faster.

Their attempts to bring the skiff up to a speed fast enough to force the water out of the craft failed because the outboard did not have enough horsepower to bring the skiff to planing speed. The skiff quickly filled with water and swamped at approximately 6 pm according to Chilkigak.

Chikagak related that he had removed a majority of his clothing and then made his way to shore. He remained on the banks of the Yukon until he was discovered at around noon on Tuesday by searchers. He was taken to the Nunam Iqua clinic, treated and released. By Tuesday evening search efforts were discontinued due to high winds and blowing snow.

Search efforts did not resume until 9 am the next day and did not produce any additional results.

Next of kin of the victims have been notified.

Nunam Iqua, or “the End of the Tundra,” is located on the south fork of the Yukon River on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta near the Bering Sea coast. The community of nearly 190 people is 18 miles southwest of Emmonak. The community began as a saltery started in the 1930s by a man named Sheldon and was incorporated as Sheldon Point in 1977, but the name was changed in 1999.