February 23, 2009

Canoe capsizes with two people, Coast Guard responds

From a US Coast Guard press release:

The Coast Guard received a report of a person missing from a capsized canoe less than a half a mile southwest from Kake, Alaska, at 1:13 p.m. Monday.

A second person onboard the canoe at the time it capsized was able to swim to shore and make an initial report to the Kake Police Department. A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew was immediately diverted from a training mission at Air Station Sitka to conduct a search for the missing person.

An additional Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew, which was in Juneau at the time of the incident, was launched at 2:15 p.m. Before the second Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew arrived on scene, a good Samaritan located the missing person at 2:20 p.m. He was transferred to the Kake clinic at 2:26 p.m. and was declared deceased by personnel at the Kake Clinic at 3:40 p.m.

The two persons were reportedly not wearing personal flotation devices.