Woman Rescued by Multiple S. Oregon Coast Agencies After Missing for 3 Days Near Coos Bay

Published 12/11/24 at 8:15 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Coos Bay, Oregon) – On Sunday, a tense three-day ordeal came to an end when a woman who had been missing in a south Oregon coast forest was found and brought to safety. (Photos courtesy USCG)

US Coast Guard (USCG) personnel along with partner agencies rescued a 64-year-old woman from Shore Acres State Park, Sunday. The USCG said she'd been missing since Friday evening in the area while foraging with a group of friends.

She was reported missing Friday afternoon, which brought in USCG personnel from North Bend and the Astoria station, with Oregon State Police (OSP) beginning the search. OSP soon called in for the Coast Guard's help, concerned with the woman's lack of survival gear, the rugged terrain and that nightfall was quickly coming.

“An initial flight crew aboard an MH-65E Dolphin helicopter from Air Station North Bend was dispatched to the area Friday night,” USCG said. “The crew utilized thermal imaging but were unable to find anyone until weather forced the aircrew to return to base.”

By Saturday, crews from all over joined the search: Coos County Sheriff's Office, multiple ground search parties, K-9 teams, Oregon Department of Emergency Management, the Coos County Search and Rescue Team, along with more USCG personnel. Conditions were not ideal for much of the day, but when they improved another Coast Guard flight crew flew over the area.

More crews were brought in from outside of the south Oregon coast region.

“A Coast Guard flight crew from Air Station Astoria aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk was also dispatched to the park on Saturday night, arriving several hours later,” USCG. “The helicopter was equipped with a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) camera to help the crew pick up on any body heat signatures in the area. During this search, no one was found.”

Sunday, it was a team from California Oregon Regional Search and Rescue Task Force (CORSAR) that first heard the woman's shouts around 12:30 p.m. It was a very remote area of Shore Acres State Park, requiring the ground party to hack their way through foliage to reach her.

“The party located the missing woman who was showing signs of hypothermia and dehydration,” USCG said.

A Coast Guard helicopter was used to pull the woman out of the woods, hurrying her to a clearer landing site where ground crews took over. There, they built a fire to warm her up.

“The North Bend crew arrived on scene at 1:45 p.m. and deployed the rescue swimmer,” USCG said. “The rescue swimmer placed the woman in a hypothermic bag, set up the hoist, and the flight crew safely moved the woman into the helicopter.”

The helicopter crew then flew her to Bay Area Hospital in North Bend and EMS personnel took over from there.

Later, officials learned she had taken shelter beneath a log and because of this could not be seen by the FLIR camera. The helicopter flying overhead did cause her to begin shouting more, which in turn allowed ground searchers to hear her.

USCG said four agencies assisted with the rescue, along with four different USCG flight crews flying a total 8.7 hours, over five sorties. There was also an airplane from the Sheriff's department involved and several ground search parties.

Cmdr. Jay Kircher, operations officer and one of the helicopter pilots at Coast Guard Air Station North Bend, said USCG regularly trains and practices with other agencies on the Oregon coast, keeping sharp their abilities to coordinate and efficiently execute rescues.

It’s fantastic to see this teamwork in action and produce a successful outcome,” he said.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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