Notes from the Landslide

32
Search For 3 Starts in Slide Aftermath
Published by the Sitka Sentinel on Thursday, 20 August 2015
By Shannon Haugland and Tom Hesse
Sentinel Staff Writers
Search and recovery efforts for three men lost in Tuesday’s Kramer
Avenue landslide were under way today despite continuing concerns
about the stability of the terrain in the slide area.
Efforts to remove the earth and log debris at the site where the men
were last seen began this afternoon, while a team of search and rescue
climbers accompanied geologists in inspecting the slide area to
assess its stability. In the debris field crews worked to remove logs
and material. A search dog team also began canvassing the area late
this afternoon.
City Administrator Mark Gorman said the recovery workers were
being “a little more aggressive” in removing the debris where a
house was buried by the debris.
“We’re working both sides of the slide,” Gorman said.
A witness to the 9:30 a.m. slide said he saw one of the missing men,
William Stortz, 62, in the area as the slide occurred.
“It is a very good idea of where he was last seen,” Gorman said.