Local fisherman finds two overdue boaters on sandbar near Toksook Bay

Fisherman Finds Two Overdue Boaters Near Toksook Bay

A local fisherman found two overdue boaters stranded on a sandbar near Toksook Bay, hours before the U.S. Coast Guard finished deploying its own search resources. Both men were safe and were taken back to Toksook Bay, the Alaska State Troopers said.

Village Police reported that two adult males had not reached their campsite by the expected time. The pair had been traveling by boat along the coastline south of Toksook Bay. Troopers received the report at 9:45 p.m. Thursday.

Weather kept the closest help on shore. "Due to environmental conditions, local search and rescue members in nearby villages were unable to respond," troopers said in the dispatch. The Coast Guard was preparing to send resources the following afternoon when the fisherman located the men on a sandbar near an inlet.

Such gaps recur across the region. Alaska News previously covered a July 4 case in which Northwest Arctic Borough Search and Rescue could not respond to two people stranded near Coffee Point.

Troopers logged the case as AK26074231 under C Detachment.