A fisherman found the stranded boaters before the Coast Guard could launch

Two men who didn't make it to their campsite near Toksook Bay were found stranded on a sandbar Thursday night, not by the Coast Guard, but by a local fisherman who reached them first.

The men had been traveling by boat down the coast south of Toksook Bay when they failed to arrive on time. Village police reported them overdue, and troopers got the call at 9:45 p.m. The nearest help couldn't move: weather kept search and rescue crews in the surrounding villages on shore. The Coast Guard was still getting ready to send resources the next afternoon when the fisherman located the two men on a sandbar near an inlet and brought them home. Both were safe.

The gap the fisherman filled is a familiar one out here. When weather grounds local crews and the Coast Guard is hours away, a neighbor with a boat is often the fastest rescue a Western Alaska village has. Alaska News covered a similar case over July 4, when Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue couldn't reach two people stranded near Coffee Point.