On Tuesday morning Alaska State Troopers received a call reporting an unoccupied skiff going in circles in the Nushagak River downstream from Ekwok at 10:25 am.

An investigation was opened that revealed that Michael Gust, age 42  and Joseph Gust, age 33 both of New Stuyahok, had gone out on the river to sport fish at approximately 1 pm the day before and had not returned.

Troopers from Dillingham and King Salmon initiated a search in the area by both aircraft and skiff but that search was unfruitful.

At 10:15 pm on Tuesday night, Michael Gust showed up in the village of Ekwok approximately 10 miles downriver from New Stuyahok without Joseph Gust.

The search for Joseph Gust continued through Wednesday by a ground search team, a vessel search team, and AWT searching by air but bore no results.

Search efforts will continue Thursday.

  ekwok, gust, joseph, michael, missing, new stuyahok, nushagak, river, search, skiff