Missing Youth Found in Downstream Water

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Category: News

Created on Thursday, 26 September 2024 16:17

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By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    A four-day search for a Sitka teenager missing after a Saturday night accident on Blue Lake Road ended midday Wednesday when search teams recovered his body from the water seaward of Sawmill Creek, the fire department said.
    Authorities said the body of 16-year-old David Jackson was found at a depth of about 20 feet in the creek outflow on the Silver Bay side of the highway bridge on Sawmill Creek Road.
    Jackson was one of four teenagers in a car that ran off the side of Blue Lake Road and rolled down the steep mountainside into Sawmill Creek. Searchers found three of the occupants in the initial search after one of them reported the accident at 10:15 p.m. Saturday night. The survivors, ages 16, 18 and 19, were taken to the hospital and one was medevacked with serious injuries.
    Police said the boys were heading down the road after fishing near the Blue Lake campground when the car went off the road.
    On Wednesday, a search team including divers on the city emergency response vessel used a remote operated vehicle (ROV) to search the underwater area past the place where the fresh water of the creek goes into the saltwater of the bay. Fire Chief Craig Warren said Jackson’s body was found a few hundred feet from shore and a few hundred feet from the mouth of the creek.
    “We were trying to keep rescuers in areas that were low risk and cover the area we knew had to be covered,” Warren said. “We walked into the river, but it was too high to simply search.” The river was flowing faster than usual, and to the point where a search in the more likely areas – inside the creek – wasn’t feasible by searchers on foot.
    The dive team used a remote operated underwater vehicle with cameras to start searching around the mouth of Sawmill Creek.
     “It’s a real useful tool so we’re not expending divers’ energies, and they found him fairly quickly, in about 20 feet of water,” Warren said. He estimated that it was about noon when the body was found, and the police department issued the news in a press release around 3:30 p.m.
    “It’s a very large area,” Warren said. “Once again it goes back to the department; it goes back to the good equipment that we have that the city provides for us to resolve situations like this.”
    The ROV is about 8 inches by 12 inches, and is equipped with a camera. It is tethered by a cable to the controls and has motors that propel it through the water forward, backward, up or down.
At about 8 a.m. Wednesday the fire department went over the plans for the day, including logistics, equipment and bringing the emergency response vessel to the area. Warren estimated the search on the water that day started 10 or 10:30 a.m.
Snorkelers looking in the shallower areas recommended the ROV be used to look into the deeper areas. Warren said the dive team members with a biology background were particularly helpful in identifying areas where the currents were less strong as those with a “higher degree of probability for detection.”
    “And the ROV went almost straight to him; we found him around noon,” Warren said. The search conditions “were challenging,” he added, since it’s an area where silt, fish carcasses and leaves have washed down the stream, fresh water is mixing with salt water, and it is not easy to tell what you are looking at underwater.
    “Everything lined up to be able to find him on this one,” the chief said.
    The multiagency search involving more than 60 volunteers and staff started Saturday night, after one of the survivors called police to report the accident around 10:15 p.m. The 2008 Hyundai sedan fell several hundred feet down the steep slope to the creek.
    One of the survivors made it down to Sawmill Creek Road and another was found closer to the accident site on the Blue Lake Road. Ambulances took them both to the hospital while searchers sought the other two. The third survivor was found on the side of the river, where it took rescuers over three hours to bring him to safety, using ropes and an inflatable raft.
    The search involved the Sitka police and fire departments, search and rescue teams from Sitka and Juneau, search dog teams, the Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers. On Wednesday the ground search continued along Blue Lake Road, with search dogs used to find any signs that Jackson had made it back to the road.
    Police are investigating the cause of the accident, and said more information will be available after the investigation concludes. Authorities said the accident is believed to have occurred between 5 and 6 p.m. Saturday although it took a few hours before the survivors could get phone service to call town for help, police said. Police said the boys rescued had parked at the campground and were returning to town at the time of the accident. The gravel road at the site of the accident is about 400 feet above the river, and about a mile from the Blue Lake Road intersection with Sawmill Creek Road.
    Police said David Jackson’s body will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage.
    The fire department plans a debrief on the case tonight, Warren said.
   The chief said if has been a difficult case and the fire department is is grateful for the help from the community.
    “The fire department is feeling the love of the community,” he said. “We had an outpouring of support. People would bring in a case of BeKind bars, and just drop them off. Fruit trays, meat trays, and the community really let us know that they appreciate what we do down here.”
    Warren said the department staff and volunteers are expressing their sympathy to David Jackson’s family and friends.
    “He had supporters from out of town, family from Kake, we are all heartbroken for the whole family, and at the end of the day  trying to get them some peace and resolution is what our job is,” Warren said.

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