Alaska Glacier Body Found: Boy, 9, Who Fell in Crevasse Is Dead

The body of a 9-year-old boy who fell into a glacier crevasse in Alaska this past weekend was found Monday morning by searchers, according to state police.

Shjon Brown's body was found underneath six to eight feet of snow, under the snowmobile he was riding when he fell into the glacial hole, Reuters reported.

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The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The boy's body will be sent to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy, state police spokesperson Megan Peters said.

Prior to falling into the 150-foot-deep glacial moulin, Shjon had been riding the snowmobile with his father.

At the time of the accident, Shjohn's father was reportedly watching his son as he rode around a small mound of snow, but the boy never reappeared, authorities said.

On Sunday, authorities found the boy's helmet and goggles but were unable to dig deeper to recover his body, and personnel from the Army’s Black Rapids high angle rescue team were subsequently called in to assist local officials in the effort, the Associated Press reported.

It was not reported which recovery organization found the boy's body.

Accepting that the boy's body was likely buried at the bottom of the glacier crevasse, friends of the victim's family began an account for donations to the family of Shjon Brown on Monday to assist with burial expenses, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

A native of Fairbanks, Shjon was attending the Arctic Man Classic at the Hoo Doo Mountains near Paxson with his family.

The annual event, which takes place about 140 miles southeast of Fairbanks features snowmobile-skier teams that race each other along the mountain as thousands of camping spectators watch.

Glacier crevasses are generally caused by water flowing onto and through glacial ice, causing rifts to form. They can reach a width of up to 20 meters and a depth of up to 45 meters.

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