****Article reposted from the Washington Post****
By Katie Mettler, Washington Post
The plan was for the four kids to set out Sunday from the Alaskan village of Nunam Iqua for a short snowmobile ride.
The kids -- Christopher Johnson, 14, Frank Johnson, 8, Ethan Camille, 7, and Trey Camille, 2 -- ventured out into the snow.
They were due back home by 1 p.m. They never showed.
More than 27 hours later, after an extensive search effort that included the Alaska State Troopers, Army National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, Emmonak Search and Rescue and numerous other local search parties, the children were found alive -- 18 miles from home.
A helicopter airlifted the children to Bethel, Alaska, where they were treated for severe hypothermia, authorities said. One child was admitted to Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. Hospital for further care. Two children were released, and a fourth was taken to Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, according to officials.
"I never would have thought that he would make it," Alphonso Thomas, father of 2-year-old Trey, told TV station KTUU. "... Tough kids, all of them."
Search efforts were complicated by blizzard conditions near the small southwestern village. When the weather started to worsen Sunday afternoon, someone jumped on a snowmobile to search for the children, reported TV station KTUU. They had no luck.
By 6:30 p.m., Alaska State Troopers had been called in to help with the search and rescue effort. They scoured the area on the ground and from the air, but blizzard conditions hindered visibility. By 2 a.m., search teams stopped looking and vowed to start again later that Monday morning.
"It's hard for me to think right now," Karen Camille, the mother of three of the boys, told KTUU. "My mind is going crazy."
At about 4:25 p.m. Monday, the children were located 18 miles south of Nunam Iqua. A member of the Emmonak Search and Rescue told KTUU that they had managed to find a shelter there.
(URL for original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/04/alaska-blizzard-missing-children/)
Related Links:
Washington Post: Missing Children Rescued in Alaska
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