Hunters stranded on sandbar after falling through Yukon River ice in Western Alaska

Two hunters who fell through the Yukon River ice in Western Alaska were rescued early Wednesday morning after being stranded for three hours on a sandbar, an Alaska Army National Guard spokeswoman said.

The hunters were traveling to Mountain Village as part of a four-man group around 2 a.m., each one on his own snowmachine, when three of them broke through the ice on the Yukon, the Guard said in a prepared statement.

Two of the men lost their snowmachines and became stranded on a sandbar while the third, who managed to keep his snowmachine, got to safety, according to Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead of the Guard.

That man decided to try to continue driving to Mountain Village, about 7 miles to the west, Olmstead said. She said she wasn’t sure whether he made it safely.

The fourth man, who didn’t break through the ice, stayed and waited for help to arrive, according to Olmstead.

Unable to ride back out on the river because of the soft ice, the two soaked and freezing hunters used trees that were growing on the sandbar to build a fire, Olmstead said.

The light from that fire helped soldiers from the Alaska Army National Guard’s 207th Aviation Battalion spot the men about three hours later, before 5 a.m., the Guard said.

The Bethel-based UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter managed to land on the sandbar and airlift the two hunters back to Bethel. The man who didn’t break through the ice told the air crew he wanted to stay in the area until sunrise and then head to Mountain Village, Olmstead said.

None of the four hunters was reported injured, she said.