A snowmobile rider has attacked two mushers and their teams in the annual Iditarod dogsled race across Alaska, killing one dog and injuring several others near the Nulato checkpoint.
Organisers said the deliberate attacks upon musher Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King yesterday resulted in a suspect being identified by the Nulato village police officer and authorities are investigating.
"It did not seem like an accident," King told the Iditarod website. "It seemed like an act of bravado and playing chicken. The river is a mile wide, the packed trail is 40 feet wide. I had lights on, reflectors on my harnesses, sled bag, two lights on my person. It really felt like an intentional attempt to scare me."
Nulato race official Karen Ramstead said the suspected attacker had been located.
"The driver of the snowmachine has been located," she told the Iditarod website. "As of now all the dog teams on the river are safe."
The morning incident began as Zirkle was approaching Nulato checkpoint. Organizers said the snowmobilers attempted to harm her and her team, with one of her dogs receiving a non-life threatening injury.
She reported the incident to race officials and authorities were brought into the case.
"The snowmachiner made three separate attempts, or passes at her, including turning around several times," said Danny Seavey, the brother of musher Dallas Seavey, in an Iditarod video. "She actually used one of the trail markers to defend herself."
King, who was just behind Zirkle, said he experienced a similar attack 19.2km ahead of Nulato that killed Nash, a three-year-old dog, and delivered non-life threatening injuries to two other dogs on his team, Crosby and Banjo.
"One of my dogs was killed pretty much on the spot and a couple others I gave first aid to the best I could and loaded them in my sled," King told KTVA television. "I kind of felt like a triage ambulance."
King requested and received medical attention at the checkpoint but he and Zirkle both plan to continue the race to the finish in Nome as planned, King with only 11 dogs remaining on his team.
