Search & Rescue

The Coast Guard says an injured Filipino freighter crewman has been safely transported to an Anchorage hospital for medical treatment.

Two C-130 aircraft and two H-60 helicopters, along with spare flight crews, flew out to Adak on Monday in preparation for a rendezvous with the freighter.

The 606-foot Anne Mette Bulker, flagged in the United Kingdom, reported that the 22-year old man was severely injured from a fall. The freighter — which was heading west from the continental United States to China — had to turn back east to get close to Adak so that one of the helicopters could fly out and hoist the man aboard. After the crewman was flown back to Adak, he was transported to Anchorage aboard one of the C-130s.

The two Coast Guard helicopters were expected to fly back to home base in Cold Bay and Kodiak on Tuesday.

This was the second long-distance medevac involving multiple Coast Guard aircraft within the last month.

ShipSpotting.com

© Kyle Stubbs

Another long-distance medevac is getting underway on Monday for an injured freighter crewman in the North Pacific.

The 22-year old Filipino national apparently fell 20 feet while on board the bulk carrier Anne Mette Bulker. The 606-foot long vessel recently departed the continental United States for a destination in China. It was over 500-miles southwest of Adak when the unspecified accident occurred. The vessel is now turning back so that Coast Guard helicopters can approach the vessel and hoist the man aboard.

The crewman is reportedly suffering from facial injuries including two missing teeth. He’s conscious, but he cannot walk and he may be suffering from possible head or internal injuries. The crewman has been bleeding from the ears, nose, and mouth.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Leuchte of the Command Center in Juneau says two C-130 aircraft and two H-60 helicopters were scheduled to leave Kodiak on Monday morning for the flight to Adak. A third C-130 flight crew and a third H-60 flight crew will ride along so that crews can be rotated out during the long flight out the Aleutian Chain.

One of the H-60 helicopters will fly out from Adak to the freighter while a C-130 will typically fly overhead as a communications platform. Once the injured crewman is hoisted aboard the H-60 and then transported back to Adak, a commercial medevac service will pick him up and transport him to Anchorage for medical treatment.

Coast Guard fliers performed a similar long-distance rescue of an injured freighter crewman in the North Pacific last month.

Searchers will continue looking on Monday for a man who disappeared underwater at the Port of Anchorage.

Two H-60 helicopters from the Coast Guard and the Air Force searched the area after the 28-year old man went missing just before midnight on Sunday night. He reportedly tried to transfer from a skiff to board the tug Sam B, but he fell into the water. The unidentified man was wearing a yellow rain jacket, but he was not wearing a life jacket.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Leuchte of the Command Center in Juneau said two Anchorage fire department boats and two Good Samaritans helped search the waters in the area. Alaska State Troopers and Anchorage airport security also assisted in the search.

A possible electrical malfunction is believed to be the cause of a Thursday morning fire at a Douglas Island duplex.

Assistant Chief Ed Quinto said they responded to the 10 a.m. call at 2358 Old Lawson Creek Road.

He said that one side of the three-story structure was on fire when they arrived, and firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze in the living room of the unit.

Fire and smoke damage was estimated at $40,000 and appeared to be limited to the living room and one side of the duplex.

No one was injured and no one was in the unit when the fire broke out, although Quinto said that a cat perished in the fire.

He said the Fire Marshall is still investigating the fire to definitively determine its cause.

The City and Borough of Juneau’s biennial Preparedness Expo is back at Centennial Hall this weekend.

CBJ Emergency Programs Manager Tom Mattice says most of the more than 40 vendors from the first expo in 2011 have returned, plus a few new ones. He says this year’s event will feature more presentations on emergency preparedness topics.

“From hands on CPR, to learning about first aid, to building your emergency to-go kit, to live fire training, all kinds of good things for people to come out and learn about,” Mattice says.

While most people in Juneau would probably associate emergency preparedness with earthquakes, avalanches, and other natural disasters, Mattice says you are generally at a higher risk of experiencing a man-made disaster.

“I always tell people it can be that simple house fire that takes you out of your house,” says Mattice. “If you had to grab one bag and run out of your house as your house burned to the ground, what would you need? Do you have your prescriptions? Do you have a change of clothes? Do you have all your critical contacts and all your important papers in one spot? What kind of things do you need to be able to make through the next period of time until you can get back and up and on your feet?”

The Preparedness Expo runs from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. It is free and open to the public.

September is National Preparedness Month.

A 58-year-old Hoonah man mauled by a brown bear Wednesday night has been medevac’d to Sitka with non-life threatening injuries.

Hoonah Police Chief Corey Rowley says the man was attacked about 9:45 p.m. as he was walking near downtown. He says the man suffered bites and scratches on his legs and back.

“Bites to his lower body and injuries to his back from the claws,” Rowley said.

He declined to identify the man. The bear was a sow with a cub, but Rowley says the man apparently had not come between them.

Coast Guard Search and Rescue Controller Adam DeRocher says their medical staff monitored the case. But a commercial medevac service was scheduled to take the injured man to Sitka for treatment Thursday morning.

Rowley says police searched most of the night for the bear. They were able to locate it in a deep canyon using thermal imaging equipment, but officers were unable to reach the animal and by morning it was gone.

He says his number one concern right now is for the safety of children walking to and from school.

“Absolutely. The initial report we received was that she was trying to drag him off into the hemlock,” Rowley says. “So, that’s a concern.”

Rowley says Alaska Wildlife Troopers are sending resources to Hoonah to help with the search, which continues.

Matt Miller contributed to this report