Alaska News

Troopers: 2 hunters rescued, 3rd drowns in Lake Louise boat accident

Alaska State Troopers say two Anchorage men were rescued a mile offshore of Lake Louise on Sunday morning, while a local resident there died after a boating accident.

Around 8:40 a.m., troopers got a report that a locator beacon had been activated on the lake. Troopers coordinated with lake residents and, around 11 a.m., searchers located 42-year-old Brian Johnson and 45-year-old Jeffrey Watson, both of Anchorage, floating about a mile offshore. Both were wearing life vests, troopers say.

Johnson told troopers that 61-year-old Howard W. Jaidinger, a third member of their hunting group, was directly ahead of him and Watson in a separate boat when their boat capsized and sank due to strong winds and large waves on the lake.

"After Johnson and Watson were pulled from the water, a search for Jaidinger began," troopers reported Sunday evening.

Around noon, searchers located the missing man floating in the lake. He also was wearing a life vest. Attempts to resuscitate Jaidinger were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, troopers say.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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