The bodies of three kayakers have been recovered from the freezing waters of a glacial lake in Alaska about 120 miles east of Anchorage, officials have said. Two of the tourists’ bodies were found floating in the water, while the third was discovered on top of an ice floe, officials added.
The victims bodies were spotted at about 10 am Tuesday on Valdez Glacier Lake, where responders later recovered the bodies from the water near the toe of the glacier. The kayakers were German tourists, including a married couple, both 67, and a 62-year-old man. They had been paddling in the lake on a single inflatable canoe-type boat and were all wearing life jackets.
The circumstances surrounding their demise is unknown, but foul play is not suspected. The water temperature yesterday was 49ºF.
“It’s dangerous getting near the face of glaciers like that,” the offical said. “If they were knocked out of the boat due to a wake or a calving piece of ice, the water is very cold.”
Valdez Glacier Lake, a popular Alaska destination for visitors year-round, offers majestic views of the Chugach Mountains and the Valdez Glacier, where ice has been “more or less retreating” for the last 10,000 years, according to a state tourism website.
