By Sentinel Staff
A man and a woman survived a difficult night on a sandbar in the Klehini River north of Haines before help arrived Sunday morning in the form of a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Sitka.
The two became stranded following a pack raft accident on the river. On Sunday morning after a night exposed to the elements, the man swam across the Klehini River to the Haines Highway, where a Customs and Border Patrol officer found him.
“The reporting source was a male who was with the female at the time her pack raft capsized. They were able to make it to the sandbar for the night (Saturday night) but hypothermia set in. So the male swam across (the Klehini, early Sunday) and was walking on the Haines Highway. A Border Patrol officer found him and made the report,” Coast Guard public affairs specialist Melissa McKenzie said.
McKenzie added that while the USCG does not have jurisdiction over inland waterways such as the Klehini, the MH-60 Jayhawk was needed for the rescue.
“The Jayhawk was used because they could land on the sandbar, and rescue her from there,” McKenzie said.
The Coast Guard said that following the rescue the 42-year-old woman was flown to Haines where she was placed in the care of local EMS in stable condition.
