By Sentinel Staff
The Coast Guard rescued two boaters on a shore Sunday after their small boat overturned and sank in Totem Bay, on the south end of Kupreanof Island.
Coast Guard Sector Juneau received a call around 7 a.m. Sunday from fellow guests at the Island Point Lodge reporting two guests had left in an 18-foot aluminum vessel Saturday morning and hadn’t return that evening as expected.
A 29-foot Coast Guard boat from Seattle, an Air Station Sitka helicopter and the Cutter Elderberry from Petersburg responded.
The small-boat crew found the boaters on shore at 11:13 a.m. Sunday in Totem Bay. One had a minor hand injury, but otherwise both were in stable condition, the Coast Guard said. The two were flown to Petersburg, where they were met by an ambulance crew, and the helicopter returned to Sitka by 12:10 p.m.
“These two men were incredibly fortunate to be found when their float plan was unknown,” Ensign Maximilian Carfagno, Sector Juneau command duty officer, said in a news release. “The quick launch of our assets and the teamwork among our crews helped in the timeliness of this rescue.”
