One person has died after a piece of construction equipment they were operating fell into the water in Katlian Bay.
KCAW spoke with Craig Warren at the Sitka Fire Department who said the large piece of equipment fell into the bay around 11:45 a.m. Thursday morning (10-24-19). The fire department received word of the accident at 11:55 and assembled a search and rescue dive team. Around 2 p.m., Warren received word that the dive team had recovered a body from inside the machine.
Warren said he didn’t know the extent of the circumstances, and could not confirm the age or sex of the person operating the machine. He also could not confirm whether the person was an employee of K&E Alaska, the company contracted by the state to construct the Katlian Bay Road.
Wildlife Troopers were on the scene Thursday afternoon, and are now in charge of the investigation. City EMS and first responders were standing down as of 2:30 p.m., Thursday.
