By Sentinel Staff and
The Associated Press
The Coast Guard rescued five boaters and their black Lab dog late Saturday from the Chilkat River near Haines, where they were stranded on a sandbar.
The group was flown to Haines for medical checks, but no one was injured, Haines police said.
The boaters were identified as Gary Hinkle, 30, Sierra Hinkle, 29, Brittany Miller, 24, Vincent Simkin, 25, Caullen Taylor, 24, Katie Torguson, 30, and Joliena Wilson, 22. Their hometowns were not available.
The group was about 10 miles up the river, 7 miles northwest of Haines, when their boat ran aground on a sandbar, Alaska State Troopers said.
The five were wet and didn’t have enough gear to stay dry when they began suffering hypothermia, and at 9:45 p.m. Saturday used a satellite phone to call the Troopers for help.
The Troopers notified the Coast Guard 17th District command center in Juneau, which relayed the call to Air Station Sitka, where a rescue helicopter was deployed to the grounding site, 150 miles north of Sitka.
The helicopter landed on the sandbar, loaded up the five and the dog and flew them to the Haines Airport, where they were met by a Haines EMS team after midnight Sunday morning.
The device that enabled them to contact the Coast Guard station in Sitka despite their remote location “probably saved their lives,” Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Plunkett said.
“We were able to rapidly locate the group because they were carrying a device that allowed them to call for help and provide their exact location,” Plunkett said. “With air temperatures in the low 30s ... this device likely saved their lives. This is a great example of how a sunny day in Alaska can quickly turn into survival situation. I’m thankful they were prepared and the conditions permitted us to help them out.
“This is a great example of how a sunny day in Alaska can quickly turn into a survival situation,” Plunkett said.
