Coast Guard medevacs fisherman 50-miles northeast of St. Paul

A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew medically evacuates a man from the fishing vessel Araho, approximately 50-miles northeast of St. Paul, Alaska, May 10, 2019. The man suffered a leg injury after a storage crate reportedly fell on him while he was stacking fish pans. Video courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew medically evacuated a fisherman approximately 50-miles northeast of St. Paul, Friday.

​

Coast Guard District 17 command center watchstanders received the initial notification from Health Force Partners reporting a 51-year-old male, aboard the fishing vessel Araho, suffered a leg injury when he was stacking fish pans and a storage crate fell on him.

​

Air Station Kodiak quickly launched a Jayhawk crew to assist with a C-130 Hercules aircraft crew providing communications cover. The Jayhawk crew arrived on scene, lowered a rescue swimmer who safely positioned the fisherman in a stokes litter, brought him into the Jayhawk cabin and transported him to the St. Paul Clinic.

​

“We quickly launched a Jayhawk crew that was in Cold Bay after responding to an earlier case,” said Lt. John Post, Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak operations duty officer. “Our crews expertise along with assistance from the Araho crew allowed the Jayhawk to transport the patient to the medical care in St. Paul that he desperately needed.”

​

Weather on scene at the time of the medevac was 10-mph winds and two-foot seas.

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Charly Hengen (archive).

-USCG-

Coast Guard suspends search for unconfirmed persons in water near Anchorage

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Jeff Mistrick (archive).

ANCHORAGE, Alaska​ — The Coast Guard suspended its search Tuesday for unconfirmed persons in the water after a skiff was found on the west shore of Knik Arm with keys still in the ignition.

Commander Coast Guard Sector Anchorage suspended the search at 10:15 p.m., pending new information or reports of any missing persons related to the abandoned skiff.

The search included efforts from the Coast Guard, Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, Alaska Air National Guard, Anchorage Fire Department and Alaska State Troopers.

Searches in the air were completed by a Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak C-130 Hercules aircraft crew, an Air National Guard C-130 aircraft crew, and two Air National Guard HH-60 helicopter crews.​

The search covered approximately 388 square miles.

"Details discovered during the investigative processes led us to believe that nobody associated with the vessel was in distress," said Senior Petty Officer Erik Patterson, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage command duty officer for the case. "After an extensive search yesterday afternoon into the evening, unless we hear that someone associated with this vessel is unaccounted for, this case is suspended for search and rescue."

Details about how the skiff ended up abandoned are under investigation. The Coast Guard is coordinating salvage of the vessel with the skiff's owner. The skiff's hull has been labeled with contact information for the Coast Guard Sector Anchorage Command Center in the event that it is rediscovered or ends up in a different location prior to being salvaged.​

​

-USCG-