A Coast Guard MH‑60 Jayhawk assigned to Air Station Sitka crashed on Monday morning at roughly 10:07 a.m. local time near Harbor Mountain, just south of the town of Sitka in the Alexander Archipelago. The aircraft was carrying four crew members at the time of the incident.
Rescue teams from Sitka Fire and Rescue arrived about an hour after the crash and airlifted the crew to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center. The Coast Guard Arctic District confirmed that none of the personnel sustained serious injuries. The cause of the crash remains unknown, and officials said a formal investigation will be launched to determine what led to the accident.
Alaska’s rugged terrain and isolated communities rely heavily on Coast Guard and National Guard aviation for search‑and‑rescue missions. The Jayhawk’s loss comes shortly after a large joint mass‑casualty exercise conducted in April involving the same air station and the National Guard. The upcoming investigation will assess any safety implications for future operations in the region.
