A 20-year-old man from Illinois died after getting stuck in quicksand-like silt in an Alaska estuary and drowning when the tide came in.
Zachary Porter, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was walking on the mud flats at the treacherous Turnagain Arm — a 48-mile-long estuary carved out by glaciers — with friends on Sunday evening when he got sucked into the silt, said Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel.
Despite efforts by firefighters and Porter’s pals to free him from the mud, the incoming tide submerged him.
At low tide, the estuary is known for its picturesque but dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks.
At least three other people have gotten stuck and drowned there over the years. Many others have been rescued, including a fisherman two weeks ago.
![A channel flows through the mud flats along the Seward Highway and Turnagain Arm in Alaska on Oct. 25, 2014.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011582815.jpg?w=1024)
Just before 6 p.m. Sunday, Porter was walking with a group of friends across the mud flats when he found himself stuck between 50 to 100 feet from shore.
One of his friends immediately called 911 as the rest tried to pull him to safety.
By the time the first rescuers arrived, the 20-year-old was already waist-deep in the mud.
Multiple fire crews from the surrounding area and two air ambulances responded to the scene. But despite their efforts, the tide submerged him just before 6:45 p.m., officials said.
One of Porter’s friends who tried to save him was airlifted to a hospital in Anchorage to be treated for hypothermia, according to troopers.
The victim’s body was recovered from the mud flats around 6 a.m. the following day.
“It’s big, it’s amazing, it’s beautiful, and it’s overwhelming,” Kristy Peterson, the administrator and lead EMT for the Hope-Sunrise Volunteer Fire Department, said of Alaska.
“But you have to remember that it’s Mother Nature, and she has no mercy for humanity.”
Peterson, who responded to the call, spoke with Porter’s friends during the failed rescue attempt. She said everyone who took part in the operation was “heartbroken.”
“When we respond, we respond with the utmost of good intentions and as mothers and fathers and uncles and brothers,” she said. “We respond with as much passion and vigor as we can.”
The accident occurred near the town of Hope, a community of about 80 people located just 22 miles — but a 90-minute drive — from Anchorage.
The Turnagain Arm estuary travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels the Seward Highway, the only highway that goes south and delivers tourists from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula.
At low tide, Turnagain Arm is known for its mud flats that “can suck you down,” Peterson said. “It looks like it’s solid, but it’s not.”
When the tide comes back in, the silt gets wet from the bottom, loosens up and can create a vacuum if a person walks on it.
Signs are posted warning people to stay away from hazardous waters and mud flats.
“I’ve really got to warn people against playing the mud,” Peterson said. “It’s dangerous.”
In 1988, newlyweds Adeana and Jay Dickison were gold dredging on the eastern end of the arm when her ATV got stuck in the mud, press reported. She then became stuck when trying to push it out and drowned as the tide came in.
A decade earlier, an Air Force sergeant attempting to cross Turnagain Arm was swept away with the leading edge of the tide. His body was never found.
In 2013, Army Capt. Joseph Eros died while trying to cross on foot the 9 miles from Fire Island back to Anchorage.
Then on May 7, a man fishing in Turnagain Arm had to be extricated from the mud flats after one leg became stuck, and he sank to his waist.