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Alaska Air National Guard recounts skiers’ rescue

From the sky Tuesday, Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crewmen spotted an orange blanket tied to a half-buried snow ski and knew they were close to two near-hypothermic people marooned for four nights in an ice field.

A few hours later, when the weather cleared and the helicopter landed, Maj. Matthew Kirby and Master Sgt. Shane Hargis bounded out on snowshoes. Near the skis was a tent pole in a hole the width of a soda can. They shouted down the hole, and from 4 feet below, Christopher Hanna and Jennifer Neyman shouted back.

A few minutes of digging by Hargis and Kirby created a funnel-shaped hole 3 feet wide and Hanna and Neyman crawled out from a snow cave slightly larger than a casket.

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From the sky Tuesday, Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crewmen spotted an orange blanket tied to a half-buried snow ski and knew they were close to two near-hypothermic people marooned for four nights in an ice field.

A few hours later, when the weather cleared and the helicopter landed, Maj. Matthew Kirby and Master Sgt. Shane Hargis bounded out on snowshoes. Near the skis was a tent pole in a hole the width of a soda can. They shouted down the hole, and from 4 feet below, Christopher Hanna and Jennifer Neyman shouted back.

A few minutes of digging by Hargis and Kirby created a funnel-shaped hole 3 feet wide and Hanna and Neyman crawled out from a snow cave slightly larger than a casket.

Read More- AP News

Image courtesy of US Air Force

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