Snowmachine accident kills Nulato man

Talk about anything at all

Moderator: john

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
bearqst
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2003 2:46 pm
Location: Alaska

Snowmachine accident kills Nulato man

#1 Post by bearqst »

By BETH IPSEN, Staff Writer

A 21-year-old University of Alaska Anchorage student home for the holidays died in a snowmachine accident in Nulato early Thursday morning, Alaska State Troopers said.

Troopers said Arvin Ekada, 21, died of injuries from a snowmachine accident just days after he returned home from college.

Ekada's uncle, Adolph, said Ekada drove into a cabin in Old Nulato. His passenger, Eddie George, jumped free before the snowmachine hit the cabin.

"From what I understand, he just came upon it, just too suddenly, going at a high speed and he couldn't turn in time," Adolph Ekada said.

Ekada said his nephew had just started going to college in hopes of earning his degree before entering a career in law enforcement.

"He's just a young kid, he's just starting life," Adolph Ekada said. "He was a good kid."

Ekada said the man's mother, Shelly Agnes, a health aid in Nulato, was in Fairbanks at the time of the boy's death and returned to Nulato Thursday afternoon.


Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said Robert Ruzika, 55, of Nulato called Fairbanks troopers at 3:38 a.m. to report finding Ekada dead in the road. A trooper flew from Galena, about 50 miles upriver, to the small Koyukon Athabascan village on the north bank of the Yukon River.

Wilkinson didn't have any additional information regarding the accident.

According to Wilkinson's records, Ekada is the fifth person to die in a snowmachine accident in Alaska this year.

Reporter Beth Ipsen can be reached at bipsen@newsminer.com or 459-7545.

Post Reply