“Seven people were rescued late Thursday after being stranded at a remote Alaska fish camp for a week, state troopers said Friday.
Ice on the Yukon River stranded the group at the camp about 20 miles east of Emmonak, a small city of around 800 in the southwestern part of the state, Alaska State Troopers said.
They were reported stuck on Oct. 29, but weather and later mechanical issues with a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter prevented their rescue, state troopers said.
Two U.S. Army helicopters were on the way for a rescue planned for Friday, but a Coast Guard helicopter was able to take off from Nome on Thursday evening, troopers said.
The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew hoisted the six adults and one teenager to safety from the remote site and took them to Nome, about 130 miles away, officials said.
There were no injuries reported and troopers said earlier Thursday that the group was “adequately supplied with food, water, shelter, and necessary supplies.”
The area outside of Emmonak does not have roads. At one point a C-130, a large cargo and search and rescue aircraft, was able to drop supplies to the group by parachute.
The group set out on Oct. 25 to hunt and bring back food for Pilot Station and another village, one of the rescued hunters told NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage.
The hunter, Rex Nick, told the station the wait for rescue was frustrating. The river iced over on Oct. 28, he said.
“It’s like, the plane will be there, the chopper will be there, and it never showed up,” he said….”
View the whole story here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hunters-rescued-after-week-stranded-alaska-fish-camp-n1283392