KODIAK — Six Coast Guard servicemembers and three U.S. Navy sailors were hospitalized in Kodiak on Wednesday evening after a Coast Guard and Navy vessel collision, the Coast Guard said.
The collision occurred around 7:30 p.m in Women’s Bay, according to Coast Guard Public Affairs Lt. Comm. Scott McCann.
McCann, who is based in Juneau, confirmed that the two vessels were Coast Guard and Navy “small boats.” The Coast Guard small boat was a 38 ft. special purpose training boat. All six servicemembers aboard the the Coast Guard vessel were transported to the Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center with apparently fairly minor injuries.
“The injuries were to the extent that our Coast Guard members were released from the hospital last night,” McCann said.
The injured Navy personnel are in stable condition, according to Naval Special Warfare Command Lt. Matthew Stroup. According to Kodiak Fire Department Chief Jim Mullican, one injured servicemember was medevaced to Anchorage at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night. Given that all six Coast Guard members were released Wednesday night, the medevaced individual was likely a sailor.
McCann confirmed the collision damaged both boats, but details around the cause of the collision remain unclear.
“We will be doing an investigation into who was at fault and why it happened and what type of damage was sustained to both boats,” he said, adding that such investigations can take weeks to months to complete.
Both the Coast Guard and Navy vessels involved are now moored at the Kodiak Coast Guard base, but it’s also unclear how they made it back to port.
According to McCann, the Coast Guard small boat was coming back from performing hoisting exercises with a Coast Guard helicopter, a part of routine search and rescue training.
The Navy boat was a Naval Special Warfare (NSW) combatant craft, according to an emailed statement from Stroup.
“An investigation is underway into the cause of the collision during routine training operations,” he wrote.
This is a developing story. KMXT will have more information as it becomes available.
