Togiak man, 19, dies after ATV hits shipping container

A 19-year-old Togiak man died early Friday when the ATV he was driving struck a Conex shipping container, Alaska State Troopers said.

Troopers identified him as Tyler Lee Maines. The crash was reported to troopers at 2:23 am. Togiak police and an on-call health aide responded and found him dead at the scene. He was the only person on the ATV.

Troopers who arrived later that morning determined the ATV had been traveling at high speed when it hit the container. His family has been notified, and his body was sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office. Troopers are still investigating.

ATVs are an everyday way of getting around in rural Alaska, and the state's ATV death rate is four times the national rate. The Alaska Department of Health counted 71 ATV-related deaths statewide from 2019 through 2024, according to a bulletin it published in April, and said the higher rate likely reflects how often rural Alaskans rely on ATVs for daily activities.

In August, a 42-year-old St. Mary's woman died in an ATV crash in Pitkas Point.