A researcher from Italy is missing after falling into a stream on Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier, officials said.
According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS), the incident happened on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at about 1:45 p.m. local time. Alaska Wildlife Troopers were alerted that an adult man had slipped into the stream and was pulled by the current into a narrow, vertical opening in the ice.
“The two people he was traveling with could no longer see him once he fell into the opening,” the DPS said in its dispatch report.
Rescue teams from Juneau Mountain Rescue investigated the site. They found that the opening, about two feet wide, was filled with fast-moving water, making it too dangerous to attempt a recovery.
The man, identified only as a resident of Italy, was reportedly conducting research on the glacier at the time of the accident, The Guardian reported. Efforts are underway to notify his family.
PEOPLE contacted the DPS for additional details on Thursday, Sept. 4.
This incident happened just one day after another tragedy near the glacier. On Monday, Sept. 1, the body of 69-year-old Thomas Casey of Arizona was found after he went missing while hiking.
Authorities said state troopers were alerted on Sunday, Aug. 31, that Casey had not returned from a hike. His phone was later tracked to a remote location between Thunder Mountain Trail and Nugget Creek Trail, leading rescue teams to search the area.
“At 5 p.m. on 9/1/2025, Juneau Mountain Rescue and SEAdogs located Thomas deceased from injuries obtained from a fall,” the DPS stated. “He was located near the Mendenhall Glacier on the west side off the trail.”
Casey’s body was scheduled to be taken to the state medical examiner’s office, and his family was notified.
The Mendenhall Glacier, a popular recreation area in Juneau, is described by the U.S. Forest Service as “one of many major glaciers that connect to the vast Juneau Ice Field, a 1,500-square-mile remnant of the last ice age.”
