ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Nine people were hurt, including one critically, when a U.S. Coast Guard vessel collided with a U.S. Navy boat off Alaska’s Kodiak Island.
The accident occurred Wednesday evening in Women’s Bay near Kodiak’s Coast Guard base, said Lt. Comm. Scott McCann, a Coast Guard Alaska District spokesman in Juneau.
A Coast Guard 38-foot (11.6 meter) special purpose training boat had just completed a helicopter hoist training session with aircraft from the agency’s air base, McCann said. Training sessions are aimed at maintaining pilot proficiency for search and rescue missions.
“They had just completed training with the air station and were headed back home,” McCann said.
The boat collided with a Navy vessel of about the same size, McCann said. The vessels were not training together.
Details of the collision have not been released and will be the subject of an investigation,.
Both boats were damaged but able to return to port.
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All nine of the injured were taken to a Kodiak hospital. The six injured Coast Guardsmen were treated and released. Two of the Navy personnel were discharged but one with serious injuries was flown to Anchorage for additional treatment.
The Coast Guard boat carries a minimum crew of three and usually four, McCann said. Additional personnel would have been on board for the training session.
Both vessels were damaged but McCann did not have an indication of how badly.
“The extent will be determined by the investigation,” he said.
