Friday, May 24, 2013

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Four Rescued by Coast Guard from Skiff in Bristol Bay
Subsistence hunters were trapped on an ice floe
By KTVA CBS 11 News


Video of the Coast Guard rescue is at left. U.S. Coast Guard video by Air Station Kodiak.

ALASKA - Four people were rescued by a Kodiak-based Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter on May 27 in Bristol Bay.

The crew of the 18-foot skiff had departed Platinum on a subsistence hunt on May 25, heading to Bird Rock to collect gull eggs. When the vessel was reported as overdue, Alaska State Troopers requested help from the Coast Guard to locate the skiff. Sunday, a HC-130 Hercules airplane from Air Station Kodiak located the skiff. It had headed into ice to avoid a storm, but ran out of gas and was drifting with the ice floe across Bristol Bay. The helicopter crew rescued the four on-board at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

The four survivors were taken to Dillingham for evaluation by medical personnel.