Anchorage Daily News

SELAWIK -- Searchers found a Selawik man Tuesday afternoon who had been missing for almost three days.

The Noorvik search and rescue team reported that James Beylund, 32, was found extremely wet and with mild hypothermia near the top of Hatham Peak. Beylund had apparently heard aircraft flying overhead and walked to higher ground, where he was able to flag down ground searchers.

Search and rescue team members from Noorvik and Selawik had been searching for Beylund along the Noorvik/Selawik trail. Alaska wildlife trooper and state Fish and Game aircraft joined the search, as did volunteers from the Northwest Arctic Borough. National Guard members who were training with a Black Hawk helicopter in Kotzebue also searched the area while passing overhead.

Beylund had left Noorvik about 7 p.m. on Saturday and was reported missing about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday. The search focused on Hatham Peak after a local trapper reported seeing someone matching Beylund's description snowmachining near there on Saturday night.

State troopers received word just after 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday that Beylund was found alive. He was transported to the Noorvik Clinic.

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