On October 20, 2020, 44-year-old Bernice Waska, a female from Quinhagak, Alaska, and six other individuals set out on a boating trip and never returned. The group, consisting of Waska, Chad Chadwick, Neal Gutleben, Alexie Nose, Michael Sharp, Elizabeth Wassillie, and Wilson Wassillie, was traveling in a 20-foot open-hulled aluminum skiff. Their vessel was last sighted near the mouth of the Eek River on Eek Island. The purpose of their journey was reportedly a seal hunting expedition.
Initial reports indicated that some of the group had left Quinhagak on October 17, 2020, and traveled to Bethel to pick up the others before heading out. Concerns were raised when the party failed to return as expected, especially since it was uncertain if they had brought survival or camping gear with them.
An extensive search was launched involving multiple agencies and local communities. The Alaska State Troopers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and search and rescue teams from Quinhagak, Eek, Kongiganak, and Platinum scoured the area. The search efforts were hampered by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited the number of available searchers due to quarantines and community lockdowns. Additionally, dropping temperatures and the formation of ice on the water created hazardous conditions for the search crews. Despite a thorough four-day search by air and water covering Nunivak Island and the western coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region, no sign of the missing individuals or their boat was found. Some debris was recovered, including gas tanks, a bucket, a personal flotation device, and a glove, but it could not be confirmed if these items belonged to the missing boaters.
After days of fruitless searching, the official search conducted by the Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers was suspended on October 27, 2020, with the possibility of resuming if new evidence emerged. Local search efforts coordinated by the Quinhagak Tribal Police Chief also had to be paused due to the increasingly dangerous weather conditions, with the hope of resuming if conditions improved or in the following spring. The seven individuals are presumed to have encountered an accident and drowned, but their bodies have never been located, and the exact circumstances surrounding their disappearance remain unknown. The case remains open, a somber and unresolved tragedy for the families and the close-knit communities of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.Last Seen: Oct 20, 2020
