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KODIAK, Alaska - The map shows the distances covered by the Kodiak-based MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew who rescued four people from 18-foot skiff and safely delivered them to Dillingham. The skiff, overdue on a voyage from Platinum to Bird Rock, was caught in an ice flow ran out of gas and ended up more than 173 miles from their homeport of Platinum. U.S. Coast Guard graphic. (U.S. Coast Guard / May 27, 2012) |
The Coast Guard rescued four people from an 18-foot skiff that drifted across Bristol Bay for three days in the ice.
The skiff's crew originally departed from Platinum, AK to make a 23 miles trip to Bird Rock to collect gull eggs for subsistence use.
Officials say they had to duck into an ice flow to avoid a storm. They ran out of gas and drifted with the ice and wound up more than 170 miles from their home port.
The boaters were reported missing Friday. An Alaska State Trooper plane spotted a skiff with the same number of people in it, and the search was called off.... but it turn out it was the wrong boat.
The search resumed Sunday morning, and Coast Guard aircraft spotted them 23-miles northwest of Port Heiden.
The boaters have been flown to Dillingham to be check out by medical personnel.
Chief Petty Officer Jeffrey Roberto, a search and rescue controller with the District 17 command center in Juneau, said "the crew had supplies with them for a day trip but we recommend mariners take enough supplies with them for multiple days at a time because anything can happen in Alaska's extreme environment."
