Troopers searching for missing kayaker in Knik River

PALMER, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska Wildlife Troopers are searching for a man missing since Tuesday night in the Knik River.

State troopers wrote in a dispatch that 46-year-old Brian Liser was in a kayak trying to “retrieve a boat that had drifted across the river,” when witnesses described his kayak overturning shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Troopers said witnesses told them that Liser did not reappear after the kayak overturned, and he was not wearing a life jacket.

Rescuers from the wildlife troopers searched the area in a helicopter while rescue divers from the Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services were staged on shore, but troopers said only Liser’s kayak was found.

Wednesday morning, troopers deployed a different helicopter to continue search efforts, which have been complicated by high water levels and poor visibility, keeping sonar and dive teams from being used.

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