Two snowmachine riders in western Alaska were found dead a day after they were reported overdue and a storm hampered search efforts, authorities said.
Alaska State Troopers identified the riders as Charlene Habros, 34, and Dustin Gologergen, 55, both of Nome. Troopers, the Alaska National Guard and Nome search and rescue were working to recover the bodies Wednesday, troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel said by email.
Their bodies will be sent to the State Medical Examiners Office in Anchorage for autopsies and next of kin have been notified, troopers said.
Troopers received a report around 7 a.m. Monday that the two were traveling from Teller to Nome – about 70 miles away – and were overdue. Initial ground search efforts from Nome were hampered by a storm.
The wind chill in Nome earlier Monday morning was as cold as 20 below 0 Fahrenheit (-29 Celsius) and stayed well below 0 F throughout the day.
An Alaska National Guard C130 search plane located the snowmachine but there were no signs of the two, and a Teller-based search-and-rescue team was unable to reach the site because of poor weather. Road-clearing crews from Nome also were hampered in reaching the site, troopers said, adding that teams were working to get there by snowmachine but “extreme weather” was “preventing a safe method of travel for ground or aerial teams.”
A search team Tuesday afternoon finally was able to reach the site and found Habros and Gologergen, troopers said. The machine was located near mile 41 of the Nome Teller highway, which is about 71 miles long, McDaniel said.
Last December, a snowmachine rider got stranded in Northwest Alaska but was rescued after he used his iPhone satellite feature to alert authorities.
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