Missing teenage snowmachiner found dead in northwest Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A teenager missing in northwest Alaska for nearly 10 days was found dead Wednesday, Alaska State Troopers said.

The body of Thomas Aki Pungalik Brown, 18, of Ambler was discovered near Cape Blossom, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Kotzebue, Alaska State Troopers said.

The search for Brown and his cousin, Josiah Ballot of Selawik, also 18, began Jan. 16 when the two did not arrive on a snowmachine in Noorvik that day as planned, Ballot’s mother, Tanya Ballot, told the Anchorage Daily News. They had left Kotzebue the previous day for the trip of just over 40 miles (64 kilometers) east to Noorvik.

Ballot was discovered Friday, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) south of Kotzebue, approximately 8 miles (12.9 kilometers) from his snowmachine. He suffered from severe frostbite and was taken to an Anchorage hospital. Troopers said the snowmachine was recovered from the sea ice.