Search resuming for missing Alaska woman who disappeared under frozen river ice while trying to save dog

A days-long search through the partially frozen Eagle River in southeastern Alaska is scheduled to resume Tuesday, after a woman vanished under the water over the weekend, authorities said.

The woman disappeared on Saturday around the north fork of the river, which is about 20 miles outside of downtown Anchorage and leads into an Alaska state park. A preliminary investigation suggests that she and another man were walking with their dogs along a trail that runs adjacent to a section of Eagle River, according to Alaska state troopers. 

One of the couple's dogs ran into the water at the fork, and both the woman and man went in after it hoping to find the animal. The woman vanished under the water while searching, troopers said in a dispatch. The man was not injured. Neither he nor the woman was identified by name.

Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska state troopers, told the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday that authorities believe the woman "was swept underneath the ice downriver" and noted that a significant portion of the river has frozen over in the area where she disappeared, according to the outlet.

Troopers responded to the incident at Eagle River at around 2:15 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, after being contacted by the Anchorage Police Department. At the time, an active search and rescue operation was already underway, and a wildlife trooper joined the ground search while Alaska's public safety department started looking for the woman in a helicopter. Anchorage police and fire officials found "no signs" of the woman during their initial probe of the area, troopers said. Divers and a state-level rescue and recovery crew could not locate her, either.  In a Facebook post, the dive and recovery team involved in the search said they could only perform an assessment of the area before dark on Saturday.

"We are deploying in the morning (24 Dec.) to perform the recovery mission in Eagle River," the post read. "Today before it became dark we went out and assessed the site, do to the risk to the team (working in the dark on thin ice over moving water) we decided to start the recovery mission when we have adequate daylight."

We are deploying in the morning (24 Dec.) to perform the recovery mission in Eagle River. Today before it became dark...

Posted by Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team on Saturday, December 23, 2023

Search efforts were constrained over the last several days by relatively brief periods of sunlight. In late December, even southern Alaska sees only about 5 1/2 hours of light each day, with the sun rising just after 10 a.m. and setting by 3:45 p.m.

State troopers said in their original Saturday dispatch that the search for the missing woman ended for the day after sunset and would start up again after sunrise. They confirmed in another update shared on Sunday night that the woman still had not been found. Crews had looked during daylight hours under the ice covering part of Eagle River "at several areas of interest," troopers said. The update noted that search operations would not continue until daylight hours on Tuesday.

In:
• Missing Person
• Alaska

Emily Mae Czachor

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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