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Coast Guard Completes Difficult Rescue to Save Hunters Trapped on Ice

Coast Guard rescue

Published Apr 15, 2026 2:54 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued four seal hunters from a small boat that had become trapped on an ice floe near the remote town of Chefornak, Alaska. 

At about 1630 hours on Saturday afternoon, Coast Guard Arctic District received word from the Alaska State Troopers that four people on a seal-hunting excursion had been trapped on the ice off Chefornak for more than 24 hours. They had freed their boat overnight, but could not reach a rescue party that was attempting to venture out from shore. Luckily they had satellite-based communications equipment, and were able to coordinate with rescuers directly.  

To get assets to the scene, the Coast Guard deployed both an HC-130 search aircraft and an MH-60 helicopter aircrew out of Air Station Kodiak, about 370 nautical miles away to the southeast on the other side of the Aleutian range. The helicopter's range is not sufficient to make this trip in one run, so the crew landed twice to refuel en route, once in King Salmon and again in Bethel. After fighting through difficult weather en route, they arrived at about 0500 hours on Sunday morning, about 12 hours after receiving the call. 

Weather on scene was difficult, with winds near 25 knots, temperatures below freezing and a low cloud ceiling. The helicopter's rescue swimmer deployed and helped hoist all four survivors aboard. They were delivered back to Chefornak in good health. 

Chefornak is a town on the Kinia River, on the mainland Alaska side of the Bering Sea. Located within a wildlife refuge, it is predominantly populated by Yup'ik Eskimo, who have Alaska Native subsistence hunting rights. 

“Our entire crew agreed this was one of the most challenging missions any of us had ever flown,” said Lt. Cmdr. Alexis Chavarria-Aguilar, pilot-in-command for the helicopter. “We battled nearly every Alaska-centric aviation weather hazard imaginable, such as flying over 800 miles in near-zero visibility through mountainous terrain, blowing snow and icing conditions."