Deshka River boat crash kills two
By ANNE AURAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: May 29, 2006
Last Modified: May 29, 2006 at 03:04 PM
Alaska State Troopers identified two people, one a 9-year-old boy, who died in an airboat crash on the Deshka River Sunday night.
Jon Chris Wilson, 51, and Benjamin O'Brien, 9, both of Anchorage, died at the scene when Wilson's boat collided with another as they rounded a river curve, according to the troopers.
O'Brien was a passenger aboard Wilson's boat. He was a friend of Wilson's son, who was also on the boat, according to trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson.
All the remaining passengers aboard his boat, which was headed upstream, were injured: Jon Wilson Jr., 8, and Bradley Sordahl, 46, both of Anchorage, and Donald Sordahl, 69, of Washington state. Bradley is Donald's son.
All aboard the second boat, a 1999 Diamondback driven by Allen Scott Holtzheimer, 39, of Wasilla, were injured: Stacy Holtzheimer, 30, of Wasilla and Stephanie Reich, 57, of Gig Harbor, Wash. The Holtzheimers are a married couple. Reich is Stephanie's mother, Wilkinson said.
The injured were flown by helicopter to ambulances waiting at Deshka Landing, on the Susitna River west of Willow, which took them to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer, according to troopers. A nursing supervisor said they had been released by Sunday afternoon.
Troopers reported both airboats rounded the curve, and simultaneously made for the bank to avoid the collision. Wilson Sr. was thrown from his boat; O'Brien died of injuries, troopers said.
Troopers reported that everyone aboard Holtzheimer's boat and the children aboard Wilson's boat were wearing personal flotation devices. Troopers had not determined whether alcohol was a factor in the collision.
The accident, reported at about 9:30 p.m., happened 17 miles up the Deshka, which flows into the Susitna River south of Willow. Airboats are flat-bottomed boats powered by a propeller like that of an airplane, generally encaged in metal.
