Family of 6 Rescued After Spending Nearly 24 Hours in Alaska River

A family of six, including a child, has been rescued after spending close to 24 hours on an Alaska River amid stormy weather.

On Monday, June 30, the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center received a request for assistance from Alaska State Troopers (AST) after a family’s boat became stuck on a sandbar near Tuntutuliak on the Kuskokwim River, according to a release from the Alaska Army National Guard (AKARNG).

The family had become stranded on their journey to Tuntutuliak amid “high wind and rough water” that also made it impossible for community efforts to reach them. Before their phones died at around midday on Monday, the family sent several messages to the AST. 

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Alaska Army National Guard aviators (AKARNG) then launched a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter from the armory in Bethel and flew 25 miles south to search for them, according to the release. 

“We could tell that the group hadn’t anticipated being stranded for that amount of time with the clothes and gear they were wearing,” AKARNG Chief Warrant Officer 3 Nick Lime said, per the release. “We were able to get them out of there at an ideal time.”

Lime was joined on the rescue mission by AKARNG Chief Warrant Officer 3s Bryan Kruse and Colten Bell, alongside AST Trooper Trevor Norris. The group overcame “heavy rain, fog and wind gusts of 45 miles per hour” to help the family. 

It took around 30 minutes for them to spot the stranded group. Lime recalled that the elderly woman among them could “barely move or communicate” due to the amount of time they had been exposed to the elements. 

All six members of the family were close to hypothermic, according to the AKARNG release. They were taken to Bethel Armory, where volunteers from the Bethel Fire Department and three ambulances were waiting to take them to Yukon-Kuskokwim Regional Hospital.

Kruse, the pilot in command, praised the collaboration between the volunteers and local air traffic controllers, saying, “This effort really reinforces the relationships that we have with our local community here.”

“The controllers did a great job at clearing the airspace for us on the way back, so we could get these patients back safely,” he added, according to the AKARNG release. 

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Despite the Bethel-based Black Hawk crew not being formally equipped for rescues, they often play an important role in assisting emergency services in Western Alaska, a community not connected to roadways. 

“We’re extremely proud of our execution during missions like this,” Kruse said, per the release. “With all the capabilities we have at our disposal, it could not have gone better. We do the best with what we’ve got.”