USCG to Medevac Injured Mariners Battling Rough Seas off Alsaka
The U.S. Coast Guard said it is preparing to medevac three injured mariners from a vessel currently more than 300 miles south of Kodiak Monday after a large wave reportedly caused multiple injuries aboard a 587-foot containership. Coast Guard watchstanders at the 17th District command center in Juneau are maintaining contact with the crew of the Liberian-flagged cargo vessel Copacabana until two Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Air Station Kodiak can rendezvous with the vessel and hoist the three men aboard. The watchstanders received a report of three injured crewmen from the master of the 587-foot vessel located more than 500 miles south of Kodiak Sunday afternoon.
Annual Event Honors Coast Guard Heroes
The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced the 2012 Coast Guard Foundation Award for Heroism will be presented to Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, for its rescue of eleven people in January 2012, at the 32nd Annual Salute to the United States Coast Guard event on Thursday, October 11, 2012 in New York City. On January 24, 2012, Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak was called into action to assist mariners of the 58-foot fishing vessel, Kimberly, in distress in treacherous weather conditions on Portage Bay. The boat reported being grounded in ice and hypothermic conditions as the results of category 3 hurricane level winds, 20-foot seas and heavy snow.
