Four Coast Guard crew members who were aboard a helicopter that crashed on Harbor Mountain Monday morning were “safe, with non-serious injuries,” the Coast Guard said Monday evening.
A Coast Guard spokeswoman today from Arctic District in Juneau clarified that the four were treated and released from Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center by Monday evening.
The Jayhawk helicopter, based at Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, was on a training flight when it crashed shortly after 10 a.m. Monday. Emergency responders from the Sitka Fire Department reached the crash site by way of Harbor Mountain Road, and transported the four crew members by ambulance to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center.
“We are incredibly relieved our crew members survived with only minor injuries,” said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, in a news release.
Arctic District command center, the hub of operations for the district, in Juneau received the initial report of the crash through the activation of the air crew’s personal locator beacon at 10:07 a.m. Monday, and Sitka Fire Department rescue team members arrived on scene around 11 a.m.
Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak plans to reposition a helicopter and crews to Coast Guard Air Station Sitka "to augment and maintain operational readiness in the Southeast Alaska region," the Coast Guard said in a news release.
Details of the crash were not released, and the cause is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.
