Rescue crews in Alaska have halted active searching for victims of a landslide that killed at least three people and left three others missing in tons of mud and debris that swept down a rain-soaked mountain slope four days ago, officials said.
Search teams ceased operations on Thursday after scouring the debris field that buried three houses and a coastal stretch of highway in the island fishing and logging town of Wrangell in southeast Alaska, according to Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the state Public Safety Department.
The heavily wooded mountainside gave way on Monday night above the Zimovia Highway following a storm that lashed the region with heavy rain and high winds. The cascade of muck and splintered trees roared across the highway and over the shoreline at the bottom of the slope, swallowing everything in its path.
On Friday, the Public Safety Department said that a canine scent-detection team would remain on standby in Wrangell to resume searching should new information point to a specific area that warranted further examination.
The agency identified the three confirmed fatalities as Timothy Heller, 44; his wife, Beth Heller, 36; and their 16-year-old daughter, Mara. The teen’s body was found immediately after the slide, and her parent’s remains were recovered the following day.
