Coast Guard helicopter crew spots SOS sign on shack near Nome, rescues man who said he was attacked by bear

A man who said he had been attacked by a bear at a remote mining camp near Nome was rescued Friday after a passing U.S. Coast Guard aircrew spotted an SOS sign on top of a shack.

The helicopter crew was flying from Kotzebue to Nome when they saw the SOS sign, the Coast Guard wrote in a statement. When the crew circled back over the camp, a man was waving two hands in the air, signaling distress, the Coast Guard said.

The helicopter landed and the man requested medical care from a bear attack a few days earlier, the statement said. He had bruising on his torso and a leg injury, according to the Coast Guard.

The man’s friends had reported him overdue when he didn’t return to Nome, the Coast Guard said.

“The man reported that the bear had returned to his camp and harassed him every night for a week straight,” the statement said.

He was transported to medical personnel waiting in Nome, the Coast Guard said.