Helicopter pilot rescues boater from Cook Inlet

"He was calling 911 while he was there in the water, holding on to his dog," said Assistant Chief Erich Scheunemann of the Anchorage Fire Department.

Douglas J. Mruk phoned for help at 7:37 a.m., saying he was about half a mile to a mile offshore between Eagle River and Peters Creek, Scheunemann said.

Scheunemann wasn't at the scene but read details of the call from fire department dispatch records. It's not clear how Mruk, 47, was able to dial from the water, but Scheunemann said the boater talked to dispatchers for about 10 minutes.

One dispatcher said it sounded as if Mruk had a foot on something solid -- possibly a rock or the sunken boat, Scheunemann said.

The fire department prepared to send two lake boats from the small boat harbor and asked Alaska State Troopers if they could dispatch a boat and helicopter, he said.

Meantime, Mruk was spotted by a private plane, firefighters say. By 8:17 a.m. the fire department learned a helicopter was in the area and might be able to help with the rescue, Scheunemann said.

About 15 minutes later, word came that Mruk had been picked up by the helicopter. Troopers identified the pilot as Roland Gohmert, 63, of Petersburg.

"Just from what I remember on the radio, (Mruk) was spotted and the next thing you know he was picked up by a helicopter and whisked away," Scheunemann said.

The pilot took Mruk to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, troopers said.

Mruk was treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Troopers and firefighters said they don't know just how the helicopter got Mruk up out of the water.

Scheunemann, the assistant fire chief, said he doesn't know what happened to the dog.

Efforts to reach Mruk through family members in Alaska and Illinois were unsuccessful.