Connect with us

Alaska

A Somali man’s deportation battle cracks a window into how ICE is operating in Alaska

Published

on

A Somali man’s deportation battle cracks a window into how ICE is operating in Alaska


The Anchorage headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security, photographed on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Federal immigration authorities are trying to deport a Somali asylum seeker living in Anchorage, as his attorneys argue he should not be held because his country is on a list of nations the U.S. has determined are too dangerous to return migrants to.

Roble Ahmed Salad, 27, is one of five people detained in Alaska by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement so far this year, amid a nationwide immigration crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump.

The federal attorneys representing immigration authorities in the case say Salad has been ordered deported since 2023 and should be removed from the Unites States imminently.

On Feb. 7, Salad’s attorneys challenged his detention in federal court here, saying the government’s hold of him was illegal because he had complied with all legal requirements and, under the law, can’t be deported.

Advertisement

Salad’s attorney, Margaret Stock, wrote in a court filing that in her 35 years of practicing immigration law, she had “never seen ICE detain a person in this circumstance.”

“The expensive mess that ICE has created is evident from the history of the events in this case,” she wrote.

The attorneys representing the U.S. government in the case declined an interview request.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage said in a statement that it “works alongside partner federal agencies to uphold the nation’s immigration laws.”

The court fight cracks a window into complicated and often opaque immigration proceedings, and reveals the resources the government has dedicated to its efforts to deport Salad, an Anchorage assisted living home caretaker.

Advertisement

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has seen publicized raids and mass deportations in cities across the United States, but has been quieter in geographically isolated Alaska. As of mid-February, 41,169 people were in ICE custody nationally, according to NBC News. The administration has repeatedly said it is deporting people with criminal records in the United States, using official social media channels to showcase the arrests of undocumented people charged with serious crimes.

The Daily News obtained the names of all of the people picked up by ICE in the state so far this year through jail records. Only one of the five appeared to have a criminal record in Alaska, a misdemeanor conviction for applying for a driver’s license without citizenship status 15 years ago. The federal immigration agency pays the state $212 per day to house immigration detainees, who while in ICE custody are not charged with a crime but with civil immigration code violations. Detainees are dressed in prison garb, at times shackled and treated as any other inmate at the Anchorage jail.

The Anchorage Correctional Complex, photographed Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

None of the other four people detained, who include Mexican and Guatemalan nationals, are still being held in Alaska jails or prisons. It’s not clear where they are now.

Roble Ahmed Salad has never been charged with a crime, either in the United States or Somalia, according to court filings.

Salad’s saga is a testament to the shifting landscape of Trump-era immigration enforcement, which has landed the 27-year-old in jail, living in a no-man’s-land of detention between deportation and a life in Anchorage.

According to federal court documents, Salad entered the U.S. through the Mexican border in December 2022 and asked for asylum. Initially, his claim of fearing his home country and government was found to be credible, according to filings by his attorneys. But his asylum claim was later denied at a hearing in which he had no attorney, according to a memo filed in his case by his lawyers. Salad then filed an appeal, which was also denied.

Advertisement

The government ordered that Salad be deported in May 2023. But because Salad was from Somalia, ICE couldn’t send him back due to the “chaotic, violent and dysfunctional conditions” in his home country, his attorney wrote in a court filing. He was detained for as long as immigration detainees can legally be held, then released on an “order of supervision” on Nov. 28, 2023, because “it was not likely he would be deported to Somalia in the reasonably foreseeable future and his continued detention would have been unconstitutional,” the court filing by his attorneys contends.

He was ordered to check in with immigration authorities more than a year later, on Dec. 18, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas, according to filings by government attorneys representing immigration authorities.

In the meantime, Salad moved to Alaska and got work as a caretaker at an assisted living home, according to case filings. He was living in an apartment in Anchorage.

In December 2024, Salad flew back to Texas, draining his savings, for his required Dec. 18 check in with immigration enforcement, according to the filings of his attorney, who entered airline ticket stubs as evidence. But initially the check-in wasn’t recorded by the government. When it was discovered he’d moved to Anchorage, he was considered an “immigration fugitive” at high priority for deportation, according to filings by the government in the case.

His attorneys rejected that notion, writing in court filings that “fugitives do not spend their savings flying 4,000 miles to report in as directed,” to immigration authorities in Texas, in court filings.

Advertisement

In January, with an attorney helping him, Salad applied for temporary protected status, which people from a short list of countries the U.S. considers too dangerous and unstable for resettlement can obtain. Temporary protected status prohibits deportation, and Somalia is included among the countries of origin eligible, until at least 2026.

The list of countries eligible for temporary protected status is getting shorter: Last month, the Trump administration announced that Venezuelans would lose protected status — a move that’s being challenged in court. And on Thursday, the administration cut Haiti from the status.

On Feb. 5, Salad was taken into custody in Anchorage by ICE agents.

On his application paperwork, included as part of his federal case, Roble said he’d never been to jail in the United States. He said he’d been jailed for two months in Somalia for participating in political demonstrations against the government.

Salad was flown from Anchorage to Texas on Feb. 7, and then returned just days later to appear at a federal court hearing this week. The government is expending major resources on Salad’s case, the court filings allege.

Advertisement

“So far ICE has purchased three airline tickets to fly two ICE officers plus Mr. Salad from Anchorage to Texas,” Stock wrote in a court filing. “Then ICE had to purchase three airline tickets to fly two ICE officers plus Mr. Salad back from Texas to Anchorage. And ICE is continuing to incur detention expenses. Yet Mr. Salad is clearly not an ‘immigration fugitive.’ Mr. Salad’s continued detention is thus unlawful, purposeless, and expensive.“

Teresa Coles-Davila is a Texas immigration attorney who said she’s familiar with Salad’s case, though she is not a party to it. To her, it sounds like ICE is “digging in their heels, and they’re doing everything they can for the optics, because now they’ve invested so much time and money in it.”

The court held an evidentiary hearing Wednesday but hasn’t ruled on the legality of Salad’s detention. He remains at the Anchorage jail.





Source link

Advertisement

Alaska

Alaska Sports Scoreboard: May 31, 2025

Published

on

Alaska Sports Scoreboard: May 31, 2025


Runners near the finish line in the boys’ DI 110 meter high hurdles during the Alaska State Track and Field Championships at Dimond High on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Bob Hallinen Photo)

High School

Soccer

Girls

Thursday

South 4, Chugiak 0

Monroe Catholic 5, Grace Christian 0

Advertisement

Soldotna 1, Ketchikan 0

Colony 2, Service 1

Dimond 5, West Valley 0

Kenai Central 7, Redington 0

Homer 4, Palmer 1

Advertisement

Wasilla 2, Lathrop 1

Friday

Grace Christian 6, Redington 2

Service 5, West Valley 1

Chugiak 4, Lathrop 1

Advertisement

Palmer 1, Ketchikan 0

Soldotna 3, Homer 1

Kenai Central 2, Monroe Catholic 1

Dimond 1, Colony 0

South 3, Wasilla 0

Advertisement

Saturday

Palmer 1, Grace Christian 0

Monroe Catholic 4, Homer 3

Kenai Central 2, Soldotna 0

Colony 1, Wasilla 0

Advertisement

Service 4, Chugiak 1

South 4, Dimond 0

Boys

Thursday

West 4, Wasilla 0

Advertisement

Kenai Central 3, Monroe Catholic 0

Palmer 5, Homer 0

Ketchikan 5, Houston 0

West Valley 2, Dimond 1

Soldotna 3, North Pole 0

Advertisement

Juneau-Douglas 2, Service 1

Colony 2, South 1

Friday

Wasilla 3, Service 1

North Pole 3, Monroe Catholic 0

Advertisement

South 3, Dimond 2

Homer 4, Houston 2

Palmer 4, Ketchikan 3

Soldotna 4, Kenai Central 0

West Anchorage 3, Juneau-Douglas 2

Advertisement

West Valley 2, Colony 0

Saturday

Kenai Central 2, Ketchikan 0

Homer 2, North Pole 0

Wasilla 2, South 1

Advertisement

Palmer 3, Soldotna 2

Colony 5, Juneau-Douglas 0

West v. West Valley (late)

• • •

Softball

Tuesday

Advertisement

Monroe Catholic 7, North Pole 4

Monroe Catholic 11, North Pole 7

Wednesday

Delta 8, Monroe Catholic 2

Delta 7, Monroe Catholic 2

Advertisement

Dimond 15, Service 1

South 10, Bartlett 1

Chugiak 15, West 2

Service 14, Bartlett 13

Thursday

Advertisement

East 9, Dimond 6

South 7, Chugiak 1

Dimond 10, Service 2

Chugiak 12, West 0

Friday

Advertisement

Colony 11, Wasilla 0

Colony 10, Juneau-Douglas 2

East 1, South 0

Chugiak 11, Dimond 1

• • •

Advertisement

Baseball

Tuesday

Dimond 13, East 3

West 12, Bartlett 1

Wednesday

South 9, West 1

Advertisement

Dimond 10, Chugiak 2

Thursday

Service 10, Dimond 1

Eagle River 6, South 1

Wasilla 11, Lathrop 1

Advertisement

Colony 9, West Valley 3

Juneau-Douglas 10, Ketchikan 5

Houston 7, Kenai Central 4

Palmer 13, Redington 7

Soldotna 12, Grace Christian 1

Advertisement

Kodiak 2, Homer 0

Palmer 8, Houston 1

Soldotna 13, Kodiak 4

Friday

Sitka 6, Juneau-Douglas 2

Advertisement

Juneau-Douglas 4, Ketchikan 3

Colony 5, Wasilla 2

West Valley 4, Lathrop 3

South 7, Dimond 4

Eagle River 4, Service 3 (10)

Advertisement

Monroe Catholic 17, Delta 1

Kenai Central 7, Kodiak 3

Homer 8, Houston 3

Soldotna 10, Palmer 0

Saturday

Advertisement

Wasilla 2, West Valley 1

Sitka 14, Juneau-Douglas 12

• • •

Track and field

ASAA State Track and Field Championships

Day 1

Advertisement

Friday

Division I

Girls

3200 Meters Finals

1. Hannah Shaha 11:19.93, Chugiak

Advertisement

2. Hailee Giacobbe 11:23.22, Wasilla

3. Rosie Conway 11:35.46, East

4. Ella Hopkins 11:46.73, Colony

Discus 1kg Finals

1. Mona Koko 119’01.00, West

Advertisement

2. Layla Hays 115’09.00, Wasilla

3. Ailafo Fautanu 106’09.00, Dimond

4. Alessa Scott, 106’03.00, Dimond

High Jump Finals

1. Nevaeh Watkins 5’6.00, Dimond

Advertisement

2. Autumn Larson 5’4.00, Chugiak

3. Avery Johnson 4’10.00, Palmer

4. Hallie Fischer 4’10.00, Soldotna

Triple Jump Finals

1. Izzy Kizer 37’00.25, North Pole

Advertisement

2. Izabela Sullivan 36’02.50, West

3. Amelia Dempsey 34’08.75, Chugiak

4. Maya Tirpack 34’00.00, South

Boys

3200 Meters Finals

Advertisement

1. Vebjorn Flagstad 9:59.04, South

2. Katahdin Staples 10:00.68, East

3. Owen Woodruff 10:00.85, Juneau-Douglas.

4. David Penfield 10:01.51, Chugiak

Shot Put – 12lb Finals

Advertisement

1. Deuce Alailefaleula 53’01.00, Bartlett

2. Luke Miller 51’09.50, Soldotna

3. George Lane 51’03.50, East

4. Benjamin Hiestand 48’05.50, Chugiak

High Jump Varsity – Finals

Advertisement

1. Trey Colbert 6’0.00, Ketchikan

2. Corbin Gerkin 6’0.00, Palmer

3. Cameron Anderson 5’8.00, Service

3. Deontae Cromer 5’8.00, West Valley

Triple Jump Varsity Finals

Advertisement

1. Isaiah Douyon 43’02.75, South

2. Kenneth Motton 42’09.50, Colony

3. Johnathyn Kestel 42’00.75, Juneau-Douglas

4. Corde Bates 41’02.50, Dimond

Division II

Advertisement

Girls

3200 Meters Finals

1. Clare Mullin 11:49.35, Sitka

2. Iris Haas 11:55.96, Delta Junction

3. Marina Dill 11:59.96, Sitka

Advertisement

4. Claira Booz 12:08.88, Homer

Discus 1kg Finals

1. Jieaya Siatini Williams 122’00.00, Mountain City Christian

2. Alexia Pik 108’00.00, Redington

3. Emma Dohrn 95’09.00, Haines

Advertisement

4. Madison Dill 93’08.00, Sitka

High Jump Finals

1. Jessie Wentworth 5’0.00, Su Valley

2. Abby Sampson 4’10.00, Hutchison

3. Emma Walsh 4’10.00, Monroe Catholic

Advertisement

4. Maura McDaniel 4’8.00, Su Valley

Triple Jump Finals

1. Mia Bukala 34’02.00, Redington

2. Caroline Klebs 34’01.50, Grace Christian

3. Reilly Sue Baker 32’01.50, Homer

Advertisement

4. Selah Coots 31’05.50, Kenai Central

Boys

3200 Meters Finals

1. Robbie Annett 9:47.95, Grace Christian

2. Connor Hitchcock 9:48.57, Sitka

Advertisement

3. Colton Merriner 9:49.39, Grace Christian

4. Johannes Bynagle 10:02.21, Homer

Shot Put – 12lb Finals

1. Zach Martel 43’05.50, Redington

2. Kyle Petersen 41’11.25, Valdez

Advertisement

3. Gage Hawes 41’04.75, Houston

4. Kaden Duke 41’03.75, Petersburg

High Jump Varsity – Finals

1. Olin Liljemark 5’10.00, Seward

2. Austin Barnard 5’10.00, Su Valley

Advertisement

3. Royce Borst 5’8.00, Skagway

4. Luke Elhard 5’8.00, Seward

Triple Jump Varsity Finals

1. Gage Ivy 41’00.25, Kenai Central

2. Joshua Woko 40’02.00, Mountain City Christian

Advertisement

3. Jaidhen Oyao 39’07.25, Mountain City Christian

4. Cole McLaughlin 39’02.75, Sitka

• • •

2025 Twilight 12k/6k

12K Male Overall

1: Riley Howard, Anchorage, AK 37:21; 2: William McGovern, Anchorage, AK 37:28; 3: Noah Laughlin-Hall, Anchorage, AK 39:46; 4: Scott Patterson, Anchorage, AK 40:22; 5: Conor Deal, Anchorage, AK 41:30; 6: Andy Peters, Anchorage, AK 42:17; 7: Brian Sweeney, Anchorage, AK 42:26; 8: Connor Marth, Anchorage, AK 42:42; 9: Allan Spangler, Anchorage, AK 42:49; 10: Michael Rabe, Anchorage, AK 42:56; 11: Chad Trammell, Anchorage, AK 43:57; 12: Ryan Beckett, Anchorage, AK 44:11; 13: Dash Dicang, Anchorage, AK 44:18; 14: Eric Mortensen, Anchorage, AK 44:28; 15: Isaac Landecker, Anchorage, AK 44:39; 16: Nick Mendolia, Anchorage, AK 44:44; 17: Andrew Pounds, Anchorage, AK 44:52; 18: Trygve Solomonson, Eagle River, AK 44:58; 19: Mike Garvey, Anchorage, AK 45:08; 20: John Cosgrave, Anchorage, AK 45:25

Advertisement

12k Female Overall

1: Anna Dalton, Anchorage, AK 43:57; 2: Julianne Dickerson, Anchorage, AK 47:24; 3: Molly Walli, Anchorage, AK 47:38; 4: Breanna Day, Eagle River, AK 48:21; 5: Sam Longacre, Anchorage, AK 49:32; 6: Hannah Souders, Anchorage, AK 50:33; 7: Sarah Cosgrave, Anchorage, AK 51:00; 8: Kyra Walter, Eagle River, AK 53:10; 9: Carolyn Stwertka, Anchorage, AK 53:11; 10: Rylee Ruggles, Eagle River, AK 53:11; 11: Allison Macy, Chugiak, AK 53:25; 12: Trophe Brandt, Anchorage, AK 53:47; 13: Anna Smith, Anchorage, AK 54:00; 14: Jillian Gavalya, Chugiak, AK 54:09; 15: Haley Gilman, Anchorage, AK 54:11; 16: Brooke Gottmeier, Anchorage, AK 54:26; 17: Iris Samuels, Anchorage, AK 54:54; 18: Annika Dollick, Levelock, AK 55:06; 19: Sofija Spaic, Palmer, AK 55:07; 20: Lia Slemons, Anchorage, AK 55:31

6K Male Overall

1: Eduardo Orozco, Anchorage, AK 19:31; 2: Hoka Ben, Kent, WA 20:15; 3: Amadeus Semo, Anchorage, AK 21:36; 4: Pedro Ochoa, Homer, AK 21:48; 5: Malachi Stamoolis, Wasilla, AK 22:49; 6: Will Graham, Anchorage, AK 22:57; 7: Mark Fineman, Anchorage, AK 23:48; 8: Cyrus Rader, Wasilla, AK 23:58; 9: Emerson Michaud, WasillaWasilla, AK 24:00; 10: Miles King, Anchorage, AK 24:07; 11: Tyler Berliner, Anchorage, AK 24:37; 12: Reyce Lee, Anchorage, AK 24:45; 13: Kaden Brown, Anchorage, AK 25:00; 14: Joel Stamoolis, Wasilla, AK 25:02; 15: Dylan Chalifour, Anchorage, AK 25:16; 16: Parker Hadley, Eagle River, AK 25:56; 17: Ashley Schultze, Chugiak, AK 26:11; 18: Ed Leonetti, Anchorage, AK 26:12; 19: Zane Hopewell, Anchorage, AK 26:13; 20: Jonathan Moran, Anchorage, AK 26:45

6K Female Overall

Advertisement

1: Emily Moore, Eagle River, AK 23:22; 2: Karina Packer, Anchorage, AK 24:13; 3: Liv Kullberg, Anchorage, AK 25:00; 4: Holly Martinson, Anchorage, AK 25:58; 5: Gigi Leonetti, Anchorage, AK 26:06; 6: Jennifer McGrath, Anchorage, AK 26:31; 7: Nicole Kimball, Anchorage, AK 26:37; 8: Heather Poe, Anchorage, AK 26:41; 9: Meghan Saramak, Anchorage, AK 27:34; 10: Hailee Stepetin, Eagle River, AK 27:37; 11: Estelle Johnson, Eagle River, AK 28:07; 12: Ashley Shaw, Eagle River, AK 28:10; 13: Jane Jackson, Provo, UT 28:39; 14: Alexandra Miller, Anchorage, AK 28:56; 15: Elsa Sternicki, Anchorage, AK 29:05; 16: Cameron Otte, Eagle River, AK 29:33; 17: Amanda Peters, Anchorage, AK 29:35; 18: Akari Kawamura, Komaki, AK 29:50; 19: Brittany Cross, Palmer, AK 30:31; 20: Suzanne Ward, Anchorage, AK 30:44





Source link

Continue Reading

Alaska

Her husband is getting deported. She plans to leave Anchorage to meet him in Peru

Published

on

Her husband is getting deported. She plans to leave Anchorage to meet him in Peru


Paola Jimenez attends a protest outside the Department of Homeland Security office in Anchorage on May 29, 2025. Jimenez’s husband, Cristian Ibanez Velasquez, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last week. (Marc Lester / ADN)

In the past week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have detained two men in Alaska. At least one will be deported back to Peru, according to his wife, who is an Anchorage resident and U.S. citizen.

The recent ICE arrests in Alaska — totaling at least 11 since January 2025, according to state Department of Corrections statistics — paint a picture of what local immigration attorneys are calling a “shocking” uptick under a presidential administration that’s working toward its quota of deporting 1 million immigrants. Not yet halfway through the year, ICE has detained almost the same number of people — and placed them in Alaska jails before sending them to detention centers out of state — as it did in all of 2024, according to state data.

But that number doesn’t account for all ICE arrests, said Alaska immigration attorney Margaret Stock. Some detainees are flown directly out of state, and thus are not counted by the Department of Corrections, which contracts with ICE to temporarily house detainees. A spokesperson from ICE said they could not answer specific questions about total arrests in Alaska this year.

The wife of one of the detained men says in the wake of the arrest, she’s spent hours on the phone fighting for information about her loved one from both state and federal officials.

Advertisement

In an interview Thursday, Paola Jimenez, 30, said she was just settling into her work at an Anchorage dermatology office last Friday morning when her husband, 32-year-old Cristian Ibanez Velasquez, called her. He’d just dropped her off 30 minutes beforehand.

She picked up like normal. “He said: ‘I got detained. It’s with ICE,’” Jimenez said in an interview nearly a week later. “‘I’m in handcuffs. They want to talk to you.’” Ibanez Velasquez, from Peru, only speaks Spanish, and the ICE officer arresting him didn’t have an interpreter when they handcuffed him in the couple’s driveway.

An ICE officer told Jimenez the news: Her husband was being detained — or effectively arrested — and would be held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex. He would be taken to the nearest ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, she was told, where he’d be deported by plane to his home country of Peru.

[Ukrainian refugees begin planning departures from Alaska ahead of expiring statuses]

Ibanez Velasquez entered the United States through Arizona illegally in 2022, but was in regular contact with immigration officials about his whereabouts ever since, his wife said. He reported changes in address — first to Chicago, and then Anchorage — and uploaded weekly photos of himself through a federal application that monitored his whereabouts, according to Jimenez. He doesn’t appear to have a state or federal criminal record, based on a search of publicly available data.

Advertisement

In Peru, Jimenez said her husband was a motorcycle mechanic. He came to the United States to seek better opportunities, she said.

But a missed a court appearance in New York in 2023 ultimately led to an order for removal that year, which Jimenez said her husband was unaware of. Local immigration attorney Nicolas Olano, who Jimenez contacted for help, broke the news when he looked up Ibanez Velasquez‘s immigration case using the Peruvian’s Alien Registration Number assigned by the Department of Homeland Security. At that point, with a deportation order and a missed court appearance, Olano said there wasn’t much he could do.

The couple’s situation was first reported by Alaska Public Media.

Jimenez questions why ICE officials didn’t notify her husband of his deportation order sooner.

“That same (ICE) officer that was doing his check-ins, was the same officer that detained him,” Jimenez said. “So if there was an order for removal back then, why did no one ever say anything to him?”

Advertisement

The couple met in 2023, and married in fall 2024. Jimenez, who is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, said that financial constraints kept them from getting a lawyer to help get her husband the proper paperwork.

Now, her greatest wish is for her husband’s safe and swift delivery to his country, where she plans to eventually meet him.

“The only thing that we want right now is for him to go back home to Peru,” she said. “I would love it if he could stay here, but it’s not going to happen.”

Over the last week, Jimenez has visited her husband at the Anchorage Correctional Complex several times. She said he was wearing a yellow jumpsuit, and they spoke through a glass panel. He complained about a lack of interpretation service at the jail, she said, which prevented him from getting medication. “He said, ‘Nobody tells me anything here.’”

Asked about legal obligations for language interpretations and medication access, Alaska Department of Law spokeswoman Patty Sullivan said, “DOC provides the same level of care for federal inmates and detainees that it does for state inmates. This includes medical care and translation services, as needed.”

Advertisement

On Thursday morning, an online detainee locator showed Ibanez Velasquez was in Anchorage, his wife said.

[Amid immigration crackdown, Anchorage leaders push back at city’s inclusion on federal list of ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’]

A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections confirmed that both detainees were out of their custody as of Thursday evening. The other man, identified as Leobardo Cardona-Rivas, a Mexican citizen, was detained May 25, according to department spokesperson Betsy Holley.

By Friday afternoon, Jimenez said her husband’s online detainee locator showed he arrived in Tacoma. She hadn’t heard from him yet that day.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Jimenez said, choking up.

Advertisement

In Anchorage, the couple loved to go to La Michoacana for treats, take drives to Wasilla, go on dates to Texas Roadhouse, stay home and watch TV with their two cats, and fulfill InstaCart delivery orders together.

Now, Jimenez said, she comes home from work to an empty house, and doesn’t know when she’ll next see — or hear from — her husband.

“When he gets sent to Peru, then I am going to go right behind him,” she said. “Because, well, he’s my husband.”





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Alaska

Alaska hiker rescued from under 700lb boulder in frigid creek

Published

on

Alaska hiker rescued from under 700lb boulder in frigid creek


A hiker in Alaska miraculously survived after he was trapped facedown in a frigid creek for three hours under a massive boulder.

Kell Morris was hiking with his wife below a glacier outside the city of Anchorage when a rock slide sent him plunging into the creek. A 700lb (318kg) stone came to rest on top of his leg, pinning him in place.

His wife positioned his head out of the water and called for help from rescuers, giving them the exact coordinates of their location.

After a few days in hospital, he walked away nearly completely unscathed.

Advertisement

The accident occurred on Saturday near Godwin Glacier. Mr Morris says that the rock that pinned him in place landed in a “trough” of other rocks, protecting him from being crushed but preventing him from being able to move.

A rescue crew arrived by helicopter and had to use tools to lift the boulder.

They were also working against the clock: the glacier-fed creek was rising as the heat of the day caused ice and snow melt to occur more quickly.

“I thought, I’m not going to last long in this water,” Mr Morris recalled in an interview on Wednesday with the Anchorage Daily News.

“The water had gotten up to my chin,” Mr Morris said. “I was going in and out of consciousness. I’d been shivering, but I stopped shivering every once in a while.”

Advertisement

His wife Jo Roop, who works as a police officer for the city of Seward, made sure he was able to hold himself out of the water in a press up position so she could hike to find enough mobile phone service to call for help.

She still retained her sense of humour during the ordeal, he told Alaska Public Media (APM), recalling: “She graciously tells me, ‘don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.’”

Ms Roop was able to provide exact GPS coordinates for their location, according to rescue officials.

In a stroke of luck, a volunteer firefighter overheard the radio call for rescue while working for a sled dog tour company. He was able to divert a helicopter used for shuttling tourists to pick up rescuers and take them to the accident site.

But the helicopter was not able to land, due to the rough terrain.

Advertisement

“The patient was in a boulder field and the helicopter could only hover while firefighters had to jump from the helicopter to the ground as the helicopter could not land safely,” the Seward Fire Department said in a statement posted to Facebook.

Rescuers used inflatable airbags to lift the rock, and a National Guard helicopter brought Mr Morris to hospital where he was treated for hypothermia.

Now recovered, Mr Morris says he suffered little more than bruises, and is already back on his feet.

“I’m walking and, you know, if there was a band nearby, I’d go dancing tonight,” he told APM.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending