A 31-year-old man mauled by a grizzly bear on Afognak Island was hoisted to safety by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew on Friday.
The man had been hiking on the island north of Kodiak Island when he was attacked, causing wounds on his leg, said Nate Littlejohn, a public affairs specialist with the Coast Guard in Alaska.
The rescue was so quick, the agency did not get the man's name, Littlejohn said. He did not know where the man is from.
A member of the man's hiking party used a satellite phone to call the Coast Guard District 17 command center in Juneau, at about 1 p.m, according to a news release from the agency.
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew transported him to Air Station Kodiak. The man was handed over to emergency medical responders, Littlejohn said.
He was conscious and alert during the rescue, Littlejohn said.
"The last I heard, he was doing OK," Littlejohn said.
"The Coast Guard in Alaska is best known for maritime search and rescue," said Coast Guard Ens. Scott Peters, Sector Anchorage command duty officer for the case. "But our helicopter crews often conduct inland search-and-rescue operations as well. Urgent situations like today require swift response from properly trained people, with assets capable of responding to persons in distress."