Video captures Coast Guard rescuing missing 64-year-old woman from Oregon state park

A 64-year-old woman who went missing in an Oregon state park for nearly two days was pulled to safety by the U.S. Coast Guard in a rescue caught on camera over the weekend.

The unnamed woman went missing on Friday evening in Shore Acres State Park after becoming separated from her group, according to a Coast Guard press release. The woman did not have survival gear on her when she became lost. That detail, paired with the approach of nightfall and concerns about rugged terrain, prompted the Oregon State Police to request Coast Guard assistance.

A helicopter was sent out to search for the woman using thermal imaging that evening but was forced to turn back due to inclement weather after finding no traces of her.

The following day, several agencies including the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, Coos County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and ground search and rescue parties, including K-9 teams, from the Coos County Search and Rescue Team joined the search.

Watch the rescue

Coast Guard joins rescue of missing woman in state park

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a 64-year-old woman who was missing in Shore Acres State Park in Oregon for three days.

When weather allowed, the Coast Guard again dispatched flight crews in search of the woman. Despite the use of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) cameras on the helicopter to detect heat signatures, again no one was found.

It wasn’t until Sunday when the searching parties, now joined by the California Oregon Regional Search and Rescue Task Force (CORSAR), discovered why the woman’s heat signature was not being picked up by the tech.

Woman found alive after nearly two days in state park

Around 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, members of a ground search party began hearing cries for help coming from a remote area of the park. Bushwhacking through the underbrush to follow the shouts, the team finally located the woman, who was showing signs of hypothermia and dehydration.

She had taken shelter underneath a log, blocking her heat signature from the infrared cameras. It was ultimately her calls for help after hearing helicopters flying overhead that led to her rescue.

Once found, the ground crew started a fire and covered the woman in blankets to keep her warm as helicopters prepared to hoist her from the park. A rescue member was deployed by 1:45 p.m. to place the woman in a hypothermic bag and set up the hoist.

In a video of the rescue captured by a Coast Guard member, the crew member is seen being lowered from the aircraft to the ground to prep the rescue. The woman was then moved via helicopter to Bay Area Hospital in North Bend where she was transferred to EMS.

“The Coast Guard and our partner agencies here on the Oregon Coast routinely train together to ensure we can execute coordinated search and rescue missions whenever we’re called upon,” said Cmdr. Jay Kircher, operations officer and one of the helicopter pilots at Coast Guard Air Station North Bend, in the press statement. “It’s fantastic to see this teamwork in action and produce a successful outcome.”