Alaska woman missing after trying to rescue dog from partially frozen river

Authorities on Tuesday identified an Alaska woman who went missing in a partially frozen river while attempting to rescue her dog, as search efforts resumed in the scant daylight hours.

Police said Amanda Richmond, 45, disappeared around the north fork of the Eagle River at around 2:15 p.m. on Saturday when she went into the water to retrieve her dog. She and a man had been walking their dogs along the North Fork Eagle River Trail when one of the dogs went into the water, Alaska State Troopers said in a media release. Both Richmond and the man she was with attempted to rescue them.

“The couple entered the water to search for the dog,” the troopers said. “While searching, the female disappeared under the water and did not resurface.”

Authorities believe she became trapped under the ice in the mostly-frozen section of river where she disappeared.

“It’s believed that she was swept underneath the ice downriver,” trooper spokesman Austin McDaniel told the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday.

Police and fire personnel searched the water, with assists from above and below via a helicopter and the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team. The area’s scant daylight meant they had just a five-hour window between around 10 a.m. and just after 3 p.m.

“The Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery Team, Solstice Search and Rescue K9 Team, and the Alaska Wildlife Troopers will resume searching along Eagle River around 10:30 a.m. today,” the troopers said Tuesday. “Search efforts will occur throughout the daylight hours today.”

Their plan was to cut into the ice and use sonar or remote-operated vehicles underwater, depending on conditions, McDaniel told the Anchorage Daily News.

The man, who police did not identify, was uninjured. The dog was not recovered.