11 people were successfully rescued from the west side of Mount Jumbo on Prince of Wales Island after a Dehaviland DHC-3 on floats went down on Tuesday, the Coast Guard reports.

Immediately after the report of the crash was received from the aircraft after it crashed at the 2,000-foot level on the west side of Mount Jumbo, two Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters were dispatched to the scene.

Upon arrival at the crash site, the two choppers were able to successfully lift all 11 occupants of the aircraft and transport them to a staging area set up by Temsco Helicopters Inc. emergency medical personnel triaged the crash victims at that location before Temsco helicopters then transported all 11 to Ketchikan. Despite crashing in rugged, rocky terrain, only minor injuries were sustained and all were otherwise reported to be in good condition.

“I am proud of everyone involved in this rescue and that we were able to get all 11 people to safety in a timely manner,” said Cmdr. Michael Kahle, Coast Guard Sector Juneau search and rescue mission coordinator. “Cases like these exemplify the versatility of our aircrews and how capable they are to expertly perform rescues from the ocean or even mountainsides.”

  Coast Guard, crash, dehaviland, dhc-3, floats, helicopter, jayhawks, ketchikan, medevac, mount jumbo, prince of wales, rescue, sitka, temsco