Search continues for man who jumped into the Talkeetna River

A number of agencies are still involved in a search for a 22 year old Nikiski man in Talkeetna.  He jumped off the columns by the Talkeetna railroad trestle into the Talkeetna River on Sunday afternoon according to friends and has not been seen since.

Mahay’s Riverboat Service, Wildlife Troopers, the National Park Service, Mat Su Borough dive teams, local volunteers and the Alaska State Troopers are involved in the search for Jacob Larson. The search was suspended temporarily at 10 o’clock Sunday evening.

According to troopers, a 12-mile stretch of river downstream is being searched today.

The Moose Dropping Festival in Talkeetna brought in thousands of out of town and out of state visitors over the weekend.  Troopers report youth started daring each other to jump into the river Saturday with a several near-drownings.  Troopers weren’t at the river on Sunday when the jump of the Nikiski youth took place.

The glacially-fed Talkeetna River has been rising dramatically in the past week due to the warm weather, but is still 3 feet from flood stage, according to hydrology reports from the National Weather Service.