NAS Whidbey Island’s Station SAR Whidbey supports Rescue in National Forest

(NAS WHIDBEY ISLAND)- A Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island assisted in the rescue of four individuals involved in a vehicular accident near T-Rex Falls in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Wilkeson, Wash., on June 26.

Early Friday morning, Station SAR Whidbey was notified by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center that Pierce County Fire and Sheriff Departments’ needed assistance in rescuing people involved in a rollover accident where a vehicle had plummeted about 250 ft. over a cliff, according to a news release from NAS Whidbey Island.

While there were four people involved in the accident, two of them needed airlift assistance. Rescue teams were able to assist one of those individuals to an extraction where Airlift Northwest provided transport to a local hospital. The other, a 20-year-old man, was hoisted by Station SAR Whidbey and transported to a different hospital.

Station SAR Whidbey has conducted 20 missions this calendar year, which includes 5 MEDEVACs, 2 searches and 12 rescues.