ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Two Southeast Alaska searches are under way for missing residents of the region who have not been seen since last week, according to Alaska State Troopers.A Tuesday AST dispatch says troopers visited 60-year-old Hyder resident Cathleen Currie’s home along the Salmon River as part of a Thursday welfare check, but she was not present.
Other residents of Hyder told troopers Monday that Currie hadn’t yet been seen, prompting a trooper and Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad members to respond by helicopter and conduct a search of the Salmon River area.
Also on Monday, troopers received a report from Wrangell Search and Rescue volunteers that local hiker Colin Buness, 25, had left town for a hiking and kayaking trip along the Kikahe and Stikine rivers, but had not returned.
Buness, an experienced hiker and kayaker with extensive knowledge of the area, is equipped with a SPOT transmitter and last checked in Friday at 8 a.m.
The Rescue Coordination Center in Juneau was notified of the report. An Air National Guard helicopter flew Juneau SEADOGS search-and-rescue volunteers to Wrangell Tuesday to assist Wrangell Search and Rescue with a search for Buness.
