A 13-year-old girl briefly went missing on Kruzof Island near Sitka on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Coast Guard release, as she paddled in the Shelikof Bay.
The girl’s aunt and uncle called the Sitka Police Department after the girl was out of sight for an hour, the release states, and SPD notified the Coast Guard. As the girl’s family searched the southern portion of the bay’s shoreline, Sector Juneau watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and dispatched a Coast Guard Air Station Sitka Jayhawk helicopter to the scene, according to the release.
At 2:16 p.m., according to the release, searchers found the girl’s kayak and her aunt believed the girl might have gone into the woods to head back to the family’s cabin. The Jayhawk crew took the aunt along with them as they searched, according to the release, looking for the girl and her purple, blue and black life jacket.
The crew spotted her at 3:08 p.m. as she was standing on some rocks, and the crew hoisted her safely away from the scene. She was in good condition, according to the release, and was taken back to her family at North Beach on Kruzof Island. Lt. Mick Klakring, one of the Jayhawk pilots on the case, said in the release that even when the air temperature is hot, the water can be dangerously cold.
“Thankfully this young lady was wearing a life jacket, which may have made the difference in the outcome,” Klakring said in the release. “We are very happy we could find her and relocate her with family staying at Shelikof Bay to enjoy the Fourth of July.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
