State Troopers from Alaska as well as State Department of Transportation workers recovered two bodies Friday morning, who were discovered dead in a snowbound car along the Steese Highway at Eagle Summit. According to a trooper’s dispatch two of them were reported as having quit Fairbanks on Tuesday and headed towards Circle.
DOT spokesperson John Perreault says a road crew from an area maintenance station travelled to Eagle Summit in stormy conditions Wednesday morning and discovered three vehicles. Two of them were running, but the third was completely buried in snow. the team received nothing when they knocked on windows or tapped on the doors.
Perreault states that the team left to assist the two other vehicles get off the summit, before returning to inspect the third.
“They could not see inside,” he stated. “The windows were covered in ice and tinted, so they smashed the doors of the passengers. They even tried prying the doors open.”
Perreault claims that the crew climbed off the mountain around six hours after they first found the vehicle on Wednesday morning.
An State Trooper dispatch says they came in that evening and broke a glass to enter and found two dead bodies inside.
“Because the weather forecast at the time was 60 mile and hour winds. The Trooper as well as the DOT personnel walked down from the top and had to sit and wait until the conditions improve. The vehicle was subsequently returned with the occupants on the following early in the morning.” Perreault explained.
The Trooper dispatch states that the bodies were brought to Fairbanks to identify them and be taken for the State Medical Examiner to be autopsied and a report that says no suspicious activity is being investigated.
The area is prone to strong winds. areas like the Eagle Summit area, and the DOT has gates that shut the highway in the event of severe weather. Perreault states that a road team didn’t lower the gates following completion of work at around 4:30 pm on Tuesday.
“They were open on Tuesday night, as the pass was clear when our employees were off the shift” the employee said.
Perreault states that the DOT has shut down the gates on Wednesday morning due to the fact that the conditions had dramatically worsened.
“And it was clear that traffic had ceased through Tuesday night, and they returned to shift to determine,” he said.
Perreault claims the incident and its aftermath will be reviewed.
“Anytime tragedy like this happens we’ll want to be sure we’ve done everything we could to prevent it from happening again, and will make sure to put these kinds decision-making through a process of re-examination and make sure that we’re giving our employees the ability to safeguard the public as best as they can,” he said.
Perreault advises motorists to look up the weather forecasts as well as Alaska 511 for weather conditions and also to let others know where they’re going and to be ready with enough fuel, emergency supplies, and equipment.
