These Infamous Alaskan Mud Flats Just Caused Another Death

The beautiful, yet deadly mud flats of Alaska's Turnagain Arm tragically claimed another victim this week, after a 20-year-old man became stuck waist deep and drowned with the incoming tide.

Zachary Porter of Lake Bluff, Illinois was walking near the flats with three friends when he became trapped in the mud at approximately 5:52 p.m. on Sunday. And although his friends quickly called 911, by the time rescue efforts were able to mobilize he had already drown. Porter's body wasn't recovered until the following Monday when the tide water receded.

The mud flats of Turnagain Arm, a waterway into the northwestern part of the Gulf of Alaska that runs parallel to Seward Highway, have claimed a number of victims over the years, including a pair of newlyweds who were gold dredging in 1988. Just two weeks before Porter died, a man fishing was successfully rescued after one leg became stuck and he also sank waist deep.

"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, told the Associated Press. “But you have to remember that it’s Mother Nature, and she has no mercy for humanity.”

"When we respond, we respond with the utmost of good intentions and as mothers and fathers and uncles and brothers,” Peterson continued. “We respond with as much passion and vigor as we can.”

The mud flats are unique yet similar to quicksand in the way the surface appears to be solid. When the tide comes in, the silt gets wet from the bottom, then loosens up and creates a vacuum that can quickly suck in those unsuspecting enough to walk on it.

"The grains are highly angular. When they’re deposited, they’re in contact with each other in a delicate balance," a geologist explained to the Anchorage Daily News in 1988. "When you step on it, you cause it to become more mobile. Then, when it resettles after you’ve disturbed it, it tends to be more compacted around your foot. The grains are so angular that they’re just locked together."

Because the tide comes so fast, Peterson advises people to call 911 as soon as possible, before it's too late.

"I’ve really got to warn people against playing the mud," she added. "It’s dangerous."