The search for a woman who was swept under the ice of the North Fork of Eagle River is slated to resume Tuesday after efforts to locate her on Christmas Eve were unsuccessful.
On Sunday, “the Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery Team and the Alaska Wildlife Troopers searched under the ice of Eagle River at several areas of interest during daylight hours,” troopers said in an online update Monday morning.
With the woman still missing, troopers said the search will resume Tuesday when there’s daylight.
The woman and a man were walking their dogs Saturday afternoon along the North Fork Eagle River Trail when one of the dogs entered the river’s open water, troopers said.
The couple entered the river to look for the dog, and the woman went under the water but didn’t come up again, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said. Authorities believe she was swept beneath the ice — much of the river in the area has frozen over — and carried downriver, he said. The man wasn’t injured, according to troopers.
The Anchorage police and fire departments had searched the immediate vicinity where she went missing Saturday, and a Department of Public Safety helicopter searched by air as an Alaska Wildlife Trooper aided in a ground search, troopers said.
The Alaska Dive Search, Rescue and Recovery Team was activated but determined, due to safety risks, to deploy on Sunday when there was enough daylight to work safely.
McDaniel has said that the dive search team and Alaska Wildlife Troopers planned to cut into the ice in certain areas to deploy sonar or remote-operated vehicles to find the woman.