5 Californians and Pilot Are Rescued From Glacier

A hovering Coast Guard helicopter hoisted five tourists, all of them Californians, and their pilot off a glacier Saturday after they spent part of a blustery night huddled in a makeshift igloo.

None of the six people suffered major injuries, said Steve Lewis, the head of a search team that packed tents, food and cold-weather survival gear through blowing snow to help the tourists make it through the night.

What began as a routine sightseeing flight over Juneau’s spectacular glaciers and ice fields on Friday morning turned into a full-blown search for three downed helicopters in gathering darkness.

The original helicopter, owned by Temsco Helicopters of Juneau, flipped over in flat lighting conditions that can make distinguishing the glacier from the sky almost impossible.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Hunt said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

When the flight failed to return on schedule, the company sent out four people in two more helicopters to search. They both wound up flipped on their sides more than a mile from the crash site, which is about 20 miles north of Juneau and 4,500 feet up Herbert Glacier.

The would-be rescuers, however, made their way to the tourists.

A third rescue team headed by Bob Bartholemew of Capital City Fire and Rescue hiked three hours across the ice, using headlamps to see as darkness fell.

The tourists and all 13 rescuers huddled together in two tents after the makeshift igloo began to melt.

At daylight Saturday, with the glacier shrouded in fog and snow, a Coast Guard helicopter hovered and lowered a basket to hoist the six people from the tourist helicopter.

Worsening weather kept the helicopter from returning, so the rescue team and the four Temsco employees hiked down the glacier, where helicopters picked them up. By 11 a.m., all were back in Juneau.

The six injured people were treated at a hospital, mostly for cuts and bruises. One of the tourists, Deborah Morgan, 42, of Placentia, had a broken ankle.

The other passengers were Rhoneel Zell, 51, and Richard Zell, 53, both of Novato, Calif.; William McIntyre, 72, of Irvine, Calif., and his son, William, 40. The name of the pilot was not available.