A 24-year-old man from Western Alaska died in a snowmachine crash Sunday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Pilot Station resident Joseph Zacharof was found dead after he hit a log at high speeds, a troopers spokesman said Monday. Pilot Station Search and Rescue contacted Alaska Wildlife Troopers on Sunday evening to report the fatality, troopers said.
Zacharof was hunting for shed antlers with another man when they became separated, according to troopers spokesman John Dougherty. Two people began looking for him after he didn’t come back to the village and found his body about a mile down the Yukon River from Pilot Station, Dougherty said.
The State Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy. Wildlife troopers plan to conduct a scene investigation, troopers said.
Pilot Station is a village of about 615 people along the northern banks of the Yukon about 80 miles east of the Bering Sea.