Alaska Department Of Public Safety,State Troopers Public Information Office

Dispatch Text:

On January 26, 2025, at 7:45 pm, Alaska State Troopers received a report of a search and rescue in the Kotzebue area. It was reported that Clifford Melton, age 61, of Kotzebue, had left Kotzebue on a snowmachine earlier that day, heading to Buckland, and hadn't been heard from since. Ground crews from Buckland and Kotzebue searched the trail. On January 27, 2026, troopers were able to land an AWT aircraft on skis near an abandoned cabin approximately 35 miles south of Kotzebue and located Melton in the cabin, extremely hypothermic. Ground crews arrived and helped load him on the plane, where he was transported to Kotzebue and then medevac'd to an Anchorage area hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries. Next of kin have been notified.