KODIAK, Alaska—A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew assisted the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Kodiak Island Search and Rescue in locating a hiker who was missing for 21 hours near Saltery Cove, on Kodiak Island, today.
The hiker was located on top of a cliff by ADF&G personnel on a late Tuesday morning, and the helicopter crew safely hoisted the man and brought him back to emergency medical personnel at the air station for additional treatment.
A Coast Guard helicopter was requested for assistance by the Alaska State Troopers just before midnight on Monday. Coast Guard Sector Anchorage watchstanders arranged for an Air Station Kodiak helicopter crew to transport a Kodiak Island Search and Rescue crew and search from the air at first light.
The Jayhawk crew arrived on-scene at 8 a.m. and dropped off four search and rescue workers at the man’s camp near Saltery Cove. After conducting an initial aerial search, the helicopter crew returned to Air Station Kodiak to refuel.
While the Jayhawk was in Kodiak, Alaska Department of Fish and Game personnel spotted the missing man on a cliff from their boat. The helicopter crew flew to the scene, safely hoisted the hiker and returned to the air station, where emergency medical personnel were waiting.
“Like many search and rescue cases in Alaska, the success of this case can be traced to cooperation between multiple SAR agencies,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Lauren Brady, a watchstander in the Coast Guard Sector Anchorage command center. “The Coast Guard regularly works with state and local responders because in Alaska’s wide open spaces, the more people that are searching, the better.”
Petty Officer 1st Class Claude Morrissey, an aviation survival technician stationed at Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, escorts a rescued hiker from an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to awaiting emergency medical personnel on the air station runway, April 23, 2013. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg.
