Alaska State Troopers on Tuesday responded after a man partially submerged his Hyundai sedan into the Kenai River, they said in a Wednesday dispatch.
According to the dispatch, at around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, troopers were called to report a man walking on the Sterling Highway and “wandering into traffic.” The man was found to have “signs of hypothermia” and he told them that he had crashed his car into the river, but then was able to exit and return to shore.
Cooper Landing Emergency Services on Tuesday morning posted a photo of a blue 2019 Hyundai Accent “parked in the Kenai River” near Sportsman’s Landing. They said that the patient was transported to a local hospital with “severe hypothermia,” and said “plans are being made to safely tow this vehicle out of the river.”
Scott’s Towing and Hauling, a Soldotna-based tow company, posted that they had done some “late night fishin’” at the boat launch to retrieve the vehicle. Photos posted to Facebook show a man wading out into the river — roughly waist deep — and attaching a tow cable to the car, which then was successfully pulled up the boat launch and onto the tow truck.
The identity of the man who partially submerged the vehicle was not released by law enforcement or emergency services, and troopers wrote that “the cause of the car entering the Kenai River remains under investigation.”
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
