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Astoria, Ore. – The Coast Guard and partner agencies rescued a 64-year-old hiker from Shore Acres State Park, Sunday afternoon.
The woman had been missing since Friday evening after separating from the party she was foraging with.
On Friday, watchstanders at Sector Columbia River were called by the Oregon State Police requesting Coast Guard assistance in locating the woman due to nightfall, rugged terrain, and the individual’s lack of survival gear.
An initial flight crew aboard an MH-65E Dolphin helicopter from Air Station North Bend was dispatched to the area Friday night. The crew utilized thermal imaging but were unable to find anyone until weather forced the aircrew to return to base.
Response personnel from the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police, multiple ground search parties and K-9 teams from the Coos County Search and Rescue Team saturated the area on Saturday, when they requested Coast Guard Assistance again. These parties were assisted by Oregon Department of Emergency Management. Another Coast Guard flight crew from North Bend flew a sortie Saturday evening once search conditions improved but were unable to find anyone.
A Coast Guard flight crew from Air Station Astoria aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk was also dispatched to the park on Saturday night, arriving several hours later. The helicopter was equipped with a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) camera to help the crew pick up on any body heat signatures in the area. During this search, no one was found.
On Sunday, a team from California Oregon Regional Search and Rescue Task Force (CORSAR) was added to the search efforts. At around 12:30 p.m., several members from the ground party heard what appeared to shouting coming from a remote area of the park. After some bushwhacking, the party located the missing woman who was showing signs of hypothermia and dehydration.
The use of a Coast Guard helicopter flight crew was requested to conduct the hoist as it would expedite the woman’s arrival to EMS crews. The ground party moved her to a safe extraction point and created a fire to warm her up.
The North Bend crew arrived on scene at 1:45 p.m. and deployed the rescue swimmer. The rescue swimmer placed the woman in a hypothermic bag, set up the hoist, and the flight crew safely moved the woman into the helicopter.
The crew flew to Bay Area Hospital in North Bend where she was transferred to EMS.
It was later determined that the woman had sought shelter from underneath a log, and, therefore, was undetectable on the FLIR camera. However, the woman began shouting for help after hearing the Coast Guard helicopters flying overhead, which eventually led the ground party to her. Overall, four different partner agencies, four different Coast Guard flight crews who flew a total of 8.7 hours over five sorties, one Sheriff’s department plane, and several ground search parties worked together to find the woman.
“The Coast Guard and our partner agencies here on the Oregon Coast routinely train together to ensure we can execute coordinated search and rescue missions whenever we’re called upon,” said Cmdr. Jay Kircher, operations officer and one of the helicopter pilots at Coast Guard Air Station North Bend. “It’s fantastic to see this teamwork in action and produce a successful outcome.”