Newtok News

The 350 residents of Newtok, Alaska, will soon be the country's first "climate refugees." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says their village is likely to be underwater in just four years.

The people of Newtok, on the west coast of Alaska and about 400 miles south of the Bering Strait that separates the state from Russia, are living a slow-motion disaster that will end, very possibly within the next five years, with the entire village being washed away.

A young boy walks along the frozen banks of the Newtok River, in Newtok, Alaska on May 24, 2006.

Jeff and Lisa Charles, who have six children, were allotted one of the first houses in Mertarvik as the sea advances on Newtok Jeff and Lisa Charles - and their six children - lead the evacuation of Newtok, Alaska to their new home in Mertarvik An aerial photograph of Newtok, which is located between the Newtok and Ninglick Rivers.

An Era Alaska Cessna 207 went down Saturday near the village of Newtok. Some passengers suffered injuries after the plane landed short of the runway and skidded across a local river.

An Era Alaska flight from Bethel to Newtok crashed just short of its destination Saturday, slightly injuring the pilot, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.

Now it's time for 300 villages. This week we're going to the village of Newtok, on the Ninglick River, which drains into the Bering Sea.