(Reuters) – Alaska landslide recovery efforts paused after killing 3, with 3 missing
Rescue teams in Alaska called off active search operations on Thursday, four days after a lethal landslide plunged tons of mud and debris onto a remote fishing and logging town in southeast Alaska. The landslide killed at least three people and left three others missing, according to officials.
The landslide occurred in Wrangell, Alaska, after a storm brought heavy rain and strong winds, causing the mud and splintered trees to cascade down the mountainside. The debris field buried three houses and a stretch of highway, swallowing everything in its path.
The Public Safety Department announced that a canine scent-detection team would remain on standby for further searching if new information points to specific areas of interest.
The confirmed fatalities include Timothy Heller, 44; his wife, Beth Heller, 36; and their 16-year-old daughter, Mara. Their bodies were discovered soon after the landslide. Derek and Kara Heller, aged 12 and 11, along with 65-year-old Otto Florschutz, are the three individuals still missing and presumed dead. Otto’s wife, Christina, 63, was found alive but injured.
The Hellers’ home was situated between the highway and the shoreline, while the Florschutz couple lived on the opposite side of the highway. The third destroyed house was unoccupied.
Wrangell, settled by Russians in the 19th century in a region originally inhabited by the Native Tlingit people, is located about 155 miles (250 km) south of Juneau, the state capital.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler)
