A U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter went down several miles outside Sitka on Monday morning, injuring four crew members and kicking off a fast-moving, multi-agency rescue effort. The chopper crashed near Harbor Mountain on Baranof Island during what officials described as a routine training flight, drawing in local Coast Guard units and Sitka first responders to secure the remote scene and get the crew to medical care.
Rescuers reached the crash site at about 11 a.m. and moved all four crewmembers to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, according to The Associated Press. The outlet reports that no deaths had been announced and that the Coast Guard said it did not yet know why the helicopter went down. Officials have said a formal investigation will be opened to sort out the cause.
Fox 13 Seattle first drew attention to the crash, noting that the Coast Guard’s Arctic Division posted on X that “first responders and search and rescue assets are currently responding” and that “the safety, well-being, and rescue of our crew members is our absolute, immediate priority.” The station places the crash southwest of Juneau in the Alexander Archipelago and reports that the Coast Guard will conduct a full probe, citing details shared from the service’s social media account.
Race to rescue and official response
For now, officials say the Coast Guard’s focus has been squarely on rescuing and treating the four-person crew, with the deeper fact-finding to come later. The Associated Press reports that the injured were taken to Sitka for initial care and then for further evaluation. Authorities have not released the conditions of the crew members or laid out any specific timeline for when the investigation might wrap up.
Air Station Sitka and the Jayhawk’s high-risk beat
Air Station Sitka serves as the Coast Guard’s primary search-and-rescue hub in southeast Alaska, flying MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters across a vast and often unforgiving maritime region. The service’s own account of a separate MH-60 crash in November 2023, which occurred during a rescue mission and also left four crewmembers injured with an investigation following, highlights the stakes of operating in Alaska’s demanding environment. U.S. Coast Guard press releases detail that earlier crash and the recovery efforts that came after.
What investigators still do not know
Officials have not yet said what caused Monday’s helicopter to crash, and the Coast Guard has not provided specifics about the extent of the crew’s injuries. Media questions are being routed through the service’s public affairs channels, and the agency has said it will release more information as it becomes available, according to Fox 13 Seattle. This story will be updated as new details emerge.
