A Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter crashed Monday night while on a rescue mission in Southeast Alaska. The four crew on board were rescued by a second Coast Guard helicopter. Two had serious injuries, and all four were flown to a hospital in Seattle for treatment.
The incident started when the crew of the Lydia Maria, a commercial crabbing boat, reported flooding; it was in Farragut Bay, near Petersburg. A Coast Guard helicopter from Sitka responded.
At 11:05 p.m. the Lydia Maria reported that the Coast Guard helicopter had crashed on Read Island in the bay. Rescue crews from Alaska Wildlife Troopers and Petersburg Fire and Rescue arrived at 12:30 a.m., and a second Coast Guard Jayhawk from Sitka got there at 1:39 a.m. It hoisted all four crew on board and flew them to Petersburg. A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules from Kodiak then took them down to Seattle.
Two Coast Guard boats arrived a bit later to help the Lydia Maria and they stopped the flooding.
An investigation is underway to determine why the helicopter crashed. It was snowing in the area at the time with winds up to 45 mph.
