Craig Jones 2011-01-30

Snowmachiner dies crashing into trailer

Anchorage Daily News / adn.com, Published: January 30th, 2011

A snowmachiner was killed and his passenger was critically injured when they crashed into an ATCO trailer Sunday morning in the village of Deering, according to Alaska State Troopers.

Neither Craig Jones, 30, nor his passenger, Karla Moto, 22, was wearing a helmet, troopers said. Alcohol was a major factor in the crash, the trooper report said. Deering, 57 miles southwest of Kotzebue, is a dry community. The snowmachine was stolen and Jones was driving it fast when it left the roadway and crashed into the trailer, troopers said. The snowmachine, Jones and Moto all ended up inside the trailer.

Jones was dead at the scene, the village police officer told troopers. Moto was taken to the Deering clinic with potentially life-threatening injuries and is being flown to Anchorage for treatment, troopers said.

Troopers went to Deering to investigate. A trooper chaplain from Kotzebue went to Deering to console the family.