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Emmonak Man Presumed Drowned

An Emmonak man is presumed drowned after a boating accident on Tuesday, June 13. State Troopers say that Brandon Johnson and Dennis Westlock’s boat collided with a log in the Yukon River. 

The Trooper dispatch said that an eyewitness, Darren Jennings, saw the accident and immediately tried to rescue the two. Jennings pulled Johnson out of the river, but says that when he tried to find Westlock, the man had disappeared. Johnson was treated for hypothermia at the Emmonak clinic.

Both men are from the village and are 23-years-old. Troopers say that alcohol was not a factor, but that neither man was wearing a lifejacket. Instead, they were sitting on them when the boat hit the log.

Troopers say that the recovery efforts are ongoing, with community members dragging the river for the body on Friday, June 15.