Found Deceased AK - Thomas Aki Pungalik Brown, 18, (& Josiah Ballot, 18, found alive), overdue from snowmobile trip from Kotzebue to Noorvik, 14 Jan 2023

[GuyfromCanada]

Searchers are looking for Thomas Aki Pungalik Brown, left, and Josiah Ballot, both 18, who went missing on Monday during a snowmachine trip from Kotzebue to Noorvik. (Photos provided by Melinda Cleveland and Tanya Ballot)

A large air and ground search was underway Friday for two 18-year-olds missing for four days in Northwest Alaska.

Alaska State Troopers say they received a report around 12:30 p.m. Monday from the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue coordinator that Josiah Ballot of Selawik and Thomas Aki Pungalik Brown were overdue arriving in Noorvik on a snowmachine trip from Kotzebue, according to the troopers’ report. A family member said Brown lives in Noorvik.

Josiah Ballot was traveling on a red and black Yamaha snowmachine, his mother Tanya Ballot said. She said it wasn’t known whether the two teens rode on one snowmachine or whether Brown had his own vehicle. The two are cousins, Tanya Ballot said.

More at Growing search underway for 2 young Northwest Alaska men missing for days

 

[modesty blaise]

What is the distance between kotzebue and noorvik?

 

[GuyfromCanada]

What is the distance between kotzebue and noorvik?

About 5 miles according to Distance from Noorvik, AK to Kotzebue, AK - Distances.io not sure how accurate this is. No Google Maps for some reason if you put the two locations in.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

The search and rescue coordinator reported earlier this week that the teenagers were unaccounted for after traveling on a red and black Yamaha snowmachine between Kotzebue and Noorvik.

“Messages from the party identified their location in Kotzebue at 3:00 am on (Monday) January 16, possibly heading to Noorvik,” troopers wrote. “Searchers from Kotzebue, Noorvik, and Selawik conducted ground searches of the trails and coastline in the area. Troopers have flown the Selawik to Noorvik trail and the Noorvik to Kotzebue trail in search of the two men.”

Missing Kotzebue teen rescued, search continues for second

Authorities are looking for a second teenager who went missing on Monday in the Kotzebue area following the rescue of one of the young men on Friday afternoon.

www.alaskasnewssource.com

 

[azure]

The search and rescue coordinator reported earlier this week that the teenagers were unaccounted for after traveling on a red and black Yamaha snowmachine between Kotzebue and Noorvik.

“Messages from the party identified their location in Kotzebue at 3:00 am on (Monday) January 16, possibly heading to Noorvik,” troopers wrote. “Searchers from Kotzebue, Noorvik, and Selawik conducted ground searches of the trails and coastline in the area. Troopers have flown the Selawik to Noorvik trail and the Noorvik to Kotzebue trail in search of the two men.”

Missing Kotzebue teen rescued, search continues for second

Authorities are looking for a second teenager who went missing on Monday in the Kotzebue area following the rescue of one of the young men on Friday afternoon.

www.alaskasnewssource.com

According to this link, Ballot was found with severe frostbite, but they're still searching for Brown.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

JAN 21

On January 20, at 2:17 pm, a private plane located Josiah Ballot approximately 28 miles south of Kotzebue.

The pilot alerted an Alaska Wildlife Trooper in the area.

Ballot was suffering from severe frostbite and was transported via a Troopers plane directly to Kotzebue for medical services.

The search for Thomas Brown is ongoing via air and land assets.

Update: In Kotzebue search and rescue, one man found alive and one man found deceased

Kotzebue, Alaska (KINY) - On January 16 at 12:29 pm, the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator called Alaska State Troopers to report two people were overdue on a red and black Yamaha snowmachine traveling between Kotzebue and Noorvik.

www.kinyradio.com

 

[Unsolved]

About 5 miles according to Distance from Noorvik, AK to Kotzebue, AK - Distances.io not sure how accurate this is. No Google Maps for some reason if you put the two locations in.

JAN 21

On January 20, at 2:17 pm, a private plane located Josiah Ballot approximately 28 miles south of Kotzebue.

Update: In Kotzebue search and rescue, one man found alive and one man found deceased

Kotzebue, Alaska (KINY) - On January 16 at 12:29 pm, the Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue Coordinator called Alaska State Troopers to report two people were overdue on a red and black Yamaha snowmachine traveling between Kotzebue and Noorvik.

www.kinyradio.com

<BBM to focus>

"About 5 miles"

"On January 20, at 2:17 pm, a private plane located Josiah Ballot approximately 28 miles south of Kotzebue."

28 miles south? Sounds like they were very lost. I can't imagine how absolutely terrifying it must have been for them. Praying hard for Thomas Brown...

More about the day they left:

"Josiah Ballot arrived in Kotzebue the night of Jan. 14 after leaving Selawik the day before and traveling through Kiana and Noorvik, his mother said. People reported seeing him riding around town and on the ocean ice in front of Kotzebue.

Brown told his family that he “was going to go help his cousin, and he took off” from Noorvik to Kotzebue, according to his mother Melinda Cleveland, who lives in Ambler.

Ballot and Brown told friends via social media they were leaving Kotzebue at midnight the day they went missing, troopers said, but were still in Kotzebue at around 3 a.m. according to their messages.

The two teens were seen in the Uutuku Store and Restaurant in Kotzebue “dressed up and ready to go,” said Tanya Ballot, who is also the Native Village of Selawik administrator. Josiah Ballot’s last location pin was behind Cemetery Hill, close to the trail towards the Devil’s Lake that leads out of town, his mother said.

The search began Monday afternoon, when Josiah Ballot’s friend told Tanya Ballot her son had not arrived in Noorvik, she said."

Young snowmachiner found suffering frostbite, another missing as search continues in Northwest Alaska

Josiah Ballot and Thomas Aki Pungalik Brown, both 18, went missing early Monday as they traveled between Kotzebue and Noorvik, Alaska State Troopers said.

www.adn.com

 

[Unsolved]

This article has some info about how Josiah survived:

"A private plane spotted Ballot’s snowmachine on Friday afternoon about 28 miles south of Kotzebue, near some GCI towers.

Walter Sampson, a longtime member of the search and rescue team, said Ballot was found a short time later taking cover from a pressure ridge that had formed on the sea ice.

“The airplane landed close by and happened to be in the general area and looked under the chunks of ice and there, there he was,” Sampson said.

Sampson said the ridge of ice, which protected Ballot from winds and 50-below wind chills, probably saved his life. He was medevaced to Anchorage for treatment of hypothermia and severe frostbite."

1 of 2 missing Noorvik-bound snowmachiners found as search continues

Both the found snowmachiner, Josiah Ballot, and search crews have suffered frostbite amid ongoing efforts to find Thomas Brown.

alaskapublic.org

The article also mentions the ground searchers - bless them, they are heroes:

"Sampson said the cold weather has also been hard on ground teams.

“People coming in with frostbites on their faces, with cold hands and other problems. When they come back, that doesn’t stop them.” Sampson said. “That’s how the community shows love to the people they’re looking for.”

 

[ClaireNC]

Here are the two towns on a map. Kotzebue to Noorvik

 

[Rush4087]

Sad to report that Thomas has been found dead

Missing Noorvik-bound snowmachiner found dead

Searchers found Thomas Brown's body about 10.5 miles from Kotzebue, near Cape Blossom.

alaskapublic.org

 

[airportwoman]

Thanks for the update. At least his family knows what happened to him, and can lay him to rest.