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Coast Guard Auxiliarists Rescue Tribal Officer Off California Coast
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers are being praised for rescuing a tribal police officer in the Pacific Ocean, near the mouth of Klamath River. Yurok tribal police officer Thorn McCovey, 26, fell into the river after his boat failed to start, according to tribal officials.
/24-7PressRelease.com/ - McKinleyville, CA, May 21, 2005 -- U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers are being praised for rescuing a tribal police officer in the Pacific Ocean, near the mouth of Klamath River.
Yurok tribal police officer Thorn McCovey, 26, fell into the river after his boat failed to start, according to tribal officials.
McCovey was checking on some fishermen at the mouth of the swollen river Monday afternoon and when he pushed the 17-foot jet boat off shore -- to avoid sucking gravel into the jet -- the boat failed to start, said tribal Public Safety Officer Chief Mike Ross.
A Coast Guard Auxiliary boat, piloted by Jeff Corning and crewed by Dennis Melton and James Rumble from Crescent City -- 12 miles north of the river mouth -- found McCovey about an hour after his craft sank. They reported the police officer, by then hypothermic, was drifting with the current and clinging to a fender more than a mile southwest of the mouth of the Klamath River.
"It's a miracle he made it," Ross told the Eureka Times-Standard. He credits McCovey's survival with being in good physical condition.
The Del Norte County Sherriff's Department and the Yurok Police Department both had ground and boat units in the area, but it was the Auxiliary vessel which found McCovey after checking the buoys of the crab pots for the direction of current and then proceeding down drift.
A HH-65 Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Humboldt Bay hoisted McCovey off the Auxiliary small boat and flew him to an RV park where an ambulance was waiting to take the officer to Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City.
McCovey is reported in stable condition after being treated for mild hypothermia at Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, according to Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Rick K. Loster at Group Humboldt Bay.
The Auxiliary-operated 25-foot Safe boat out of Crescent City is one of only three such Coast Guard units in the nation (the other two are in Alaska), and the only one operating on the ocean on a full-time basis.
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is composed of uniformed, non-military volunteer civilians who assist the Coast Guard in all of its varied missions, except for military and direct law enforcement. Its members can be found on the nation's waterways, in the air, in classrooms and on the dock. They perform such missions as Maritime Domain Awareness and safety patrols and vessel safety checks.
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is composed of uniformed, non-military volunteer civilians who assist the Coast Guard in all of its varied missions, except for military and direct law enforcement. These men and women can be found on the nation's waterways, in the air, in classrooms and on the dock, performing Maritime Domain Awareness patrols, safety patrols, vessel safety checks and public education.
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary was founded in 1939 by an Act of Congress as the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and re-designated as the Auxiliary in 1941. Its 30,000 members donate millions of hours annually in support of Coast Guard missions.
The release is available at: http://www.auxpa.org/releases/auxaction/051705.html
Contact: Aux. Wayne Spivak
Division Chief - External Communications
Public Affairs Department
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
http://www.auxpa.org
516-353-9155
media@auxpa.org
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is composed of uniformed, non-military volunteer civilians who assist the Coast Guard in all of its varied missions, except for military and direct law enforcement. These men and women can be found on the nation's waterways, in the air, in classrooms and on the dock, performing Maritime Domain Awareness patrols, safety patrols, vessel safety checks and public education.
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary was founded in 1939 by an Act of Congress as the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and re-designated as the Auxiliary in 1941. Its 35,000 members donate millions of hours annually in support of Coast Guard missions.
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Wayne Spivak
US Coast Guard Auxiliary
Chief, External Communications
2711 Bellmore Avenue
Bellmore, NY
USA 117104319
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