Coast Guard rescues child, three adults stranded on ice floe near Chefornak in ‘most challenging’ mission

CHEFORNAK, Alaska (KTUU) - A family seal-hunting trip turned into a life-or-death rescue after a child and three adults became stranded on a drifting ice floe off the Bering Sea coast.

On Saturday afternoon, the Coast Guard received reports that a group of four people who went out on a subsistence seal-hunting expedition became stranded on ice.

The four people, three adults and one child, were on an 18-foot vessel that got trapped on an ice floe for over 24 hours, approximately 10 miles west of Chefornak, according to the Coast Guard.

The hunting party freed the vessel from the ice overnight and attempted to reach a shore party that had come from the village with snowmachines. However, moving ice blocked their path.

The Coast Guard received the call at 4:24 p.m. Saturday. Two aircraft, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules airplane, were then dispatched from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak.

The helicopter aircrew arrived on scene at approximately 5 a.m. Sunday, after making stops in both King Salmon and Bethel to refuel.

The Coast Guard states the hunting party had three forms of communication on board, including satellite-based communications, which greatly enhanced the Coast Guard’s ability to locate and rescue them.

All four people were safely hoisted into the helicopter and transported back to the village of Chefornak with no reported injuries.

The Coast Guard states the weather at the time of the rescue was 28 degrees, 29-mph winds, an 800-foot cloud ceiling and nine miles of visibility.

Lt. Cmdr. Alexis Chavarria-Aguilar, the pilot-in-command for the helicopter, said the entire crew agreed “this was one of the most challenging missions any of us had ever flown.“

“We battled nearly every Alaska-centric aviation weather hazard imaginable, such as flying over 800 miles in near-zero visibility through mountainous terrain, blowing snow and icing conditions. The teamwork was on full display during the recovery of the survivors. It was a long, difficult night, but I’m so proud of everyone involved who worked seamlessly together to bring four people home safely.”

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