A 74-year-old man went missing in Southwest Alaska over the weekend, on what Alaska State Troopers said should have been a 30-minute trail ride.
Henry Williams has been missing since Friday, and there was still no sign of him Monday despite air and ground searches, Alaska State Troopers said.
Williams was last seen Friday at 4 p.m. in the village of Goodnews Bay, where he had been grocery shopping, trooper spokesperson Beth Ipsen said. When he was done shopping he was heading back on a snowmachine to his home village of Platinum, a trip that should have taken less than an hour.
But according to an online trooper dispatch, officials were notified at 1 p.m. Saturday that Williams never returned home.
Ipsen said Williams could have traveled over the ice of Goodnews Bay, on the shore of which sits the village of the same name. She said it's a typical route between the two communities, but on Friday, the ice went out.
The village of Platinum is on the south spit of Goodnews Bay. From there, Ipsen said travelers typically ride north across the bay and then cut east to the village of Goodnews Bay.
"The ice could have been spotty or he could have used overland trail," Ipsen said Monday. "We are not sure. There are a lot of unknowns."
Although the beach around Goodnews Bay has been searched, Ipsen wasn't sure if search and rescuers were able to make it onto the ice yet.
Saturday, search teams from Goodnews Bay and Platinum checked the land route Williams would have traveled, and were unable to locate the man, troopers said. On Sunday, troopers used two state airplanes to search for Williams over the beach, as well as over the trail between the villages.
Six searchers were traveling by ATV Monday to continue the search for Williams along the beach of Goodnews Bay, the area around Beluga Hill and the Tunulik River.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.