ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Three people in remote parts of the state were assisted by the Alaska Air National Guard last weekend.
On March 30, staff at Bethel’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation requested the assistance of the 176th Rescue Wing to transport a man who had suffered a stroke after civil air ambulances were unable to assist due to weather conditions.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (AKRCC) dispatched one of the 211th Rescue Squadron’s HC-130J Combat King II aircraft with the callsign “King” carrying pararescuemen from the 212th Rescue Squadron, who picked up the patient and took him to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. He was then taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
Not long after, another call came in for assistance, this time from the village of Ruby on the Yukon River. Two snowmachiners were injured in a collision, with one activating their satellite communication device to issue a distress call. …