Searchers found a missing teenage girl on Prince of Wales Island Tuesday. 13-year-old Makayla McRoberts was apparently uninjured. Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters got word shortly after noon.
“The Alaska State Troopers were notified by ground searchers at approximately 12:02 that they had located Ms. Roberts. According to searchers on scene, she did not appear to have any injuries and she was not reporting to them that she was injured. She’s in the process of being transported out of the search area and depending on medical evaluation she may be left in Port Protection or she may be transported on to receive treatment if she has anything that needs to be addressed,” Peters said.
McRoberts family reported her missing the evening of Sunday, May 6 after she had not returned from a hike on a trail near the end of Port Protection Road. Troopers said she was fairly new to Alaska and not very familiar with the area.
According to Peters, the search included 41 people on the ground along with four Search and Rescue Dog Teams, a Coast Guard helicopter and four skiffs. Along and State Troopers and the Coast Guard, the effort involved volunteers from the Ketchikan and Klawok rescue Squads as well as Sitka Mountain Rescue and Port Protection residents.
Port Protection is a remote fishing town that’s home to about 53 people on Northwest Prince of Wales Island.
Matt Lichtenstein is a reporter at KFSK in Petersburg.
