Distress call leads to long distance rescue

ANCHORAGE - A hiker in the Brooks Range was rescued after making a long distance distress call with his GPS unit.

Alaska State Troopers said the rescue began when a personal locator beacon control center in Texas received a call for help on Friday. The transmitter was registered to an Australian named David Roberts. According to the GPS signal, Roberts was in an isolated area of the Brooks Range.

The center contacted the troopers' Anchorage office, which notified the Alaska Air National Guard at the Anchorage Rescue Coordination Center.

Roberts was located Friday, with frostbitten feet. But he told rescuers he was no longer in need of immediate attention.

A rescue plane took him to Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks on Saturday.