AAI just received this email from Denali National Park:
- Update on Status of Abby Flantz and Erica Nelson
- Both women were reported to be uninjured and healthy when Erica Nelson called her mother’s cell phone at approximately 9:15 a.m. today, while the Nelson and Flantz family members were being briefed on today’s planned search activities. The young women were asked to move to a highly visible area, remain in that location, make themselves highly visible and signal any helicopters that flew overhead.
- Two helicopters were immediately dispatched to search the area where the two women believed themselves to be, and to pick them up. At this time they have not been located, and there has been no other cell phone contact since the initial call.
- The new area being searched is north of Mount Healy, approximately five miles west of the Parks Highway. The area is a mix of national park and state-owned lands.
- An additional helicopter and a fixed wing are now searching this new area, and ten ground searchers and two dog teams are being inserted at this time. Search managers are making arrangements to move ground searchers from areas of the previous search into this new area throughout the afternoon if needed.
