A Mekoryuk man who drove his snowmachine off a 50-foot cliff this weekend drowned after he and his machine punched through ice in a river below, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Hultman Kiokun, 63, was killed in the accident while trying to navigate home in near whiteout conditions Saturday evening, troopers said.
Investigators say Kiokun had been out collecting wood with his son, Edward Kiokun, 26, when the weather worsened. The men were on separate snowmachines with sleds and tried to find their way home in the blowing snow using a global positioning device, troopers said.
Both men were travelling roughly 20 mph when they each drove over the edge of the cliff and onto the ice coating the Mekoryuk River, troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said. Hultman Kiokun's snowmachine and sled landed on top of him in the impact, she said.
"He broke through the ice and was trapped underneath the snowmachine," Ipsen said. "The son tried unsuccessfully to get him out, and he ended up drowning."
After trying to free his father, Edward Kiokun called for help on a VHF radio about 6:45 p.m. and Mekoryuk Search and Rescue headed to the scene. Edward Kiokun sustained minor injuries in the wreck and was treated at the town clinic, troopers said.
Mekoryuk, on Nunivak Island, is at the mouth of Shoal Bay, 149 miles west of Bethel.
Alcohol was not a factor in the wreck.
"If at all possible, don't go out in white-out conditions," Ipsen said. "If you do have to travel in white-out conditions, just go really slow and follow the GPS to a T."
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com