Two Southeast Alaska Searches for Missing People Under Way

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.