A Whitehorse man drowned in the Yukon River Thursday evening.
Nicholas Close-Silverfox was 19 years old.
A woman called police at 6:38 p.m. on Thursday to say Close-Silverfox had gone into the river to rescue his dog. The current pulled him under and he did not resurface. The incident happened near the apartment buildings on Selkirk Street, on the Riverdale side of the Millennium Trail.
Two police officers immediately arrived. One put on a life jacket and jumped into the water and pulled the man’s body from the river. The officers performed CPR until the Whitehorse Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services arrived.
Close-Silverfox was taken to Whitehorse General Hospital. He could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead. Police and the coroner’s office are continuing to investigate. There will be no autopsy, but drugs and alcohol were not a factor, chief coroner Kirsten Macdonald said Friday morning.
The dog survived.
In 2007, a 45-year-old man drowned near the Millenium Trail about 300 metres from the intake. A 23-year-old woman drowned in the Yukon River near the Millenium Trail in 2004.