Missing 74-Year-Old Alaskan Man Found in Good Health

A 74-year-old man who had gone missing for two days during a berry-picking trip in Southeast Alaska was found alive and in good health on Aug. 12, reported Anchorage Daily News.

Valentino Barattin, of Haines, had gone berry picking near a highway and had failed to return home after he became disoriented and “slightly injured” during the trip, according to local police.

Barattin was last seen at his home on Aug. 10 and reported missing on Aug. 11. His car was later found unoccupied on a remote road.

A search effort involving the Coast Guard, Alaska State Troopers, a K-9 search team, and two ground teams, began early on Aug. 12 and Barattin was found 13 hours later.

The Coast Guard said that they found Barattin in a heavily wooded area near Walker Lake. He was then taken to Haines airport where he was met by medics, troopers said.

Barattin told troopers that he had decided to stay in one place until help arrived.

In an earlier notice, District 17 command center command duty officer, Lt. Daniel Piazza said, “This case exemplifies the abilities of the federal, state and local agencies to seamlessly coordinate efforts to execute search and rescue.”

Another man, 56-year-old Earl “Rocky” Ashworth III, was also reported missing in a different part of the state on Aug. 10. Troopers had suspended the search, stating that they were awaiting “better information on a location he may have gone.”

According to Anchorage Daily News many hikers and Alaskan residents go missing within a “Triangle” that connects Anchorage and Juneau in the south to Barrow along the state’s north coast. This area has been dubbed the second “Bermuda Triangle.”

According to Coast To Coast “an astounding 53,000 people have gone missing in the state since 1988.”

“The troubling average of 500 to a few thousand people disappearing each year is made all the more remarkable by the fact that Alaska only has a population of around 600,000,” according to Coast to Coast.