No new developments today……
About forty SAR members from different communities again converged upon the search site working 8-10 hours every day. Most members are volunteering their effort, transportation and taking personal time away from their jobs and families.
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- Using bent conduit to search under ice
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- Bethel SAR – Hard at work
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- Dropping camera into water
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- VPSO MAx Olick
The weather has been in the mid 20’s with partly cloudy skies, making conditions perfect at the site. Although the lake has been freezing and slowly getting smaller. The lake has gained about 20 feet along the edge since the beginning of the search, creating dangerous thin ice conditions. The boat brought from Bethel by BSAR was used minimally as problems with the outboard hampered efforts. Hopefully the motor will be running tomorrow after it is thawed and serviced. The boat when up and running will be used to pull a drag bar with attached treble hooks along the river bottom near the edge of the open water. Meanwhile a crew on the ice will be pulling on a rope attached to the same drag bar from a trench cut into the ice.
Today searchers were getting wet having to use waterproof foot gear including bunny boots and rubber gloves when dragging and poling.
Underwater camera used by BSAR. As the camera is lowered into the hole in the ice, searchers view the screen and watch as layers of ice and slush slip past. After checking immediately under the ice, the camera is lowered about 26 feet to the bottom where a view of the riverbed is checked.
The 7 inch LCD displays in black and white and is split into four separate views as the camera has four separate lenses. The camera apparatus has small LED lights illuminating an area about 3-4 feet in diameter immediately above the lens.
The views are dependent upon lighting and the amount of debris in the water. We are hoping for brighter underwater lighting in the future along with color displays.
For 12-18-14, the search will continue with volunteers coming from nearby communities. As previously requested, VPSO Sgt. Max Olick with Kwethluk SAR is asking for donations, including food to assist in the search.
