Body recovery effort continues near Bethel

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Searchers on Sunday concentrated on looking under the ice in the area near where a four-wheeler was found the day before near the village of Kwethluk on Kuskokuak Slough, which veers off the main Kuskokwim River. They recovered the body of Ralph Demantle, who goes by Jimmy, one in a trio of travelers who went missing Friday while traveling from Bethel to Akiak.

Dozens of volunteer searchers from three Western Alaska villages and the hub of Bethel traveled Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, by snowmachine, four-wheeler and truck to a dangerous open hole on an offshoot of the Kuskokwim River, looking for three travelers feared dead under the ice.

They pulled one man's body from beneath the ice around 1 p.m., through a hole they cut with chain saws, and prayed for safe recovery of the other two, a couple. Crews continued until dark to prod with poles and branches through other holes they cut into the ice of Kuskokuak Slough but couldn't find the missing man and woman.

Late Sunday night, Alaska State Troopers identified the man found frozen under the ice as Ralph Demantle. Searchers said he went by "Jimmy."

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