Three Valdez men were traveling northbound on the Richardson Highway when they were involved in an accident after they encountered blizzard conditions with snow accumulating on the highway on Wednesday morning.

69-year-old Valdez resident Steven Alley Sr was driving a 2000 Chevy pickup with passengers 47-year-old Steven Alley Jr and 18-year-old Christopher Alley when he encountered the early winter conditions. He soon lost control of the vehicle and spun 180 degrees on the highway, crossed into the southbound lane, and ultimately rolled down the embankment on that side of the road and came to rest on its side in the creek.

Christopher alone was not injured significantly in the crash, he escaped the vehicle, but the other two remained trapped in the partially submerged pickup.

As luck would have it, a short time later, an HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter from the 210th Rescue Squadron was following the Richardson Highway returning to Eielson Air Force Base after rescuing a hunter who had experienced heart symptoms. They had previously dropped the hunter, 67-year-old Michael Lavin, off at the Gulkana Airport north of Glennallenn for further transport to Anchorage and were following the highway as they were making their way back to base in the inclement conditions. That is when the aircraft crew spotted the accident according to Mast. Sgt. Armando Soria, a duty controller with 11^th Air Force RCC.

“The helicopter was following the Richardson Highway back to Eielson when they saw a vehicle that had rolled down a 15 ft. embankment and came to rest in a creek,” said Soria. “Other cars had stopped near the scene of the accident.”

The flight crew called the 11^th Air Force RCC and told them they were going to take on the mission, he added.

Christopher had managed to escape the wreckage and had climbed back up to the highway but the remaining two remained in the vehicle until the helicopter rescue crew were able to cut them out.

The Guardian Angel team cut the two trapped occupants out of the vehicle and hoisted them up to the helicopter hovering above.

“They didn’t want to take the other two up the hill because they had suffered back and head injuries,” explained Soria. “These guys were pretty lucky. Our guys got there approximately 15 minutes after it happened.”

The crash victims were flown to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in Fairbanks, Alaska, and released to medical professionals at 1:10 p.m.

The elder Steven suffered multiple rib fractures in the accident, his son, the younger Steven, suffered a broken neck. He was later transported to an Anchorage area hospital where he is undergoing intensive treatment.