Coast Guard helicopter picks up two stranded boaters
Two overdue boaters from Teller were rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter last Friday after being reported overdue on Thursday.
They were both found alive and well in a cabin at the Sinuk River, and their 18-foot skiff was seen bobbing in the surf near the mouth of the Sinuk.
According to Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Aileen Witroski the boaters, Donald Weyiouanna and Johnny Topkok, had left Teller on Thursday around 3 p.m., trying to make it to Nome that evening. When they didn’t arrive, Teller relatives called AST around 10 p.m. to report them overdue. State troopers notified the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center which in turn notified Coast Guard 17th District command center around 11 p.m.
Nome Search and Rescue was also notified. Nome SAR Chief Jim West Jr. asked Bering Air to keep an eye out and a pilot indeed spotted the two boaters at a cabin on the banks of the Sinuk on Friday. The Coast Guard was informed of their location and they launched an Air Station Kodiak C-130 Hercules aircrew from Kodiak and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Kotzebue. The C130 crew did a fly over and dropped a pump can with survival gear, clothing, food and a radio. According to a Coast Guard spokeswoman the weather wasn’t suitable to launch a helicopter, but later that day, weather improved. The helicopter crew was on scene later that day to pick up the boaters at 6:30 p.m. and transported them to the Nome airport.
“We want to stress the importance of filing a float plan with someone before getting underway,” said Master Chief Petty Officer Christopher Cole, a 17th District command center watchstander. “In this case, the boaters told their loved ones where they were going and when they should be arriving at their final destination. This information aided us in locating and rescuing the boaters.” On scene weather was an air temperature of 28°F, 17-mph winds and less than 10-mile visibility.
No injuries were reported.
AST Sgt. Aileen Witroski reminds travelers to pay attention to weather forecasts and to communicate where you are going, when you plan to get there and what route you’re taking.
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Coast Guard concluded its annual Arctic Shield operations on Sunday, Oct. 31, with the seasonal closure of its Forward Operating Location in Kotzebue, Alaska. Air Station Kodiak aircrews and two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters were forward deployed to Kotzebue to provide coverage and reduced response times to remote regions of Alaska during increased summer and fall maritime activities.
The Coast Guard aircrews deployed in support of Operation Arctic Shield, which commenced on July 1, responding to 15 search and rescue cases, saving 18 lives and assisting seven others.
“This season, Coast Guard Forward Operating Location Kotzebue was as busy as ever serving remote Alaskan communities, hunters and mariners throughout the Arctic,” said Capt. Nathan Coulter, commanding officer, Air Station Kodiak. “The cases we responded to varied from rescuing 2-month-old babies to bear attack survivors and our operations stretched from Nightmute to Little Diomede and Utqiagvik. It is and has been a privilege to serve the United States’ most northern communities. As we have since 1947, Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak stands ready to respond to safety and security missions throughout Alaska.”
To prevent hazards at sea, Coast Guard personnel from the 17th District and Sector Anchorage completed 128 facility inspections and 470 commercial fishing vessels safety exams.
A detachment from the Maritime Safety and Security Team in San Francisco, California, conducted seasonal operations in Bristol Bay in the vicinity of King Salmon and Naknek, supporting the same objective. During their 47-day operation, MSST personnel enforced commercial fishing vessel safety standards, while providing search and rescue capabilities, strengthening community relations and building partnership with other government agencies.
In addition, the crews of the Coast Guard Cutters Hickory and Kukui, 225-foot seagoing buoy tenders homeported in Homer and Sitka, respectively, patrolled the Gulf of Alaska to Bristol Bay as well as the Aleutian Chains and the Bering Sea.
Coast Guard Cutters Midgett and Kimball, 418-foot Legend class cutters, homeported in Honolulu, Hawaii, conducted operations north of the Bering Strait for 16 days. The Coast Guard Cutter Healy, a 420-foot polar icebreaker homeported in Seattle, Washington, spent 23 days conducting operations in the same area.
The Coast Guard also continued its partnerships and provided critical support to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fish and Wildlife Service and Office of Naval Research.
Additionally, four international at sea engagements were conducted by crews aboard the Cutter Midgett and the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf, homeported in Alameda, California, alongside crews from the Japanese Navy, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Russian Border Guard.
“I am proud of the current success of this operation and the Coast Guard’s continued ability to provide critical services to Arctic communities,” said Rear Adm. Nathan Moore, commander, Coast Guard 17th District. “The successful rescues conducted are due almost entirely to the strength of our partnership with local community responders, the people who know the region and their communities best.”
The annual operation of Arctic Shield, which began in 2009, is the Coast Guard’s mobile and seasonal presence focused on performing the service’s statutory missions throughout the Arctic to ensure maritime safety, security and stewardship.