Christopher Kaningok, 21, was last seen on October 2, 2008, in Koozaata Lagoon, about 25 miles south of Savoonga. He was wearing a camouflage jacket, dark camouflage hip waders and a cap with a duck head emblem when he entered the cold water to try to retrieve a drifting boat and began to swim toward it. That was the last confirmed sighting.

Alaska State Troopers were notified just after midnight on the following Friday. Search teams from Gambell and Savoonga, together with the State Troopers, conducted an intensive search over the weekend of the area where he was last seen, contending with remote, challenging conditions and strong currents. No trace of Christopher was found, and after consulting his family officials called off the formal search on Sunday. His case is categorized as an environmental disappearance.

If anyone was in the Koozaata Lagoon area on October 2, 2008, or has information about Christopher’s movements that day, please share what is known.