CAPE ARAGO STATE PARK - A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a 19-year-old Coos Bay woman Sunday night after she fell into the roiling surf off Cape Arago, south of Charleston.

At 6:12 p.m., the Charleston Rural Fire Protection District received a call reporting a woman had been swept into the ocean by a wave. The woman, Kortney L. Ford, was one of three walking a trail at Cape Arago State Park; Ford was standing on rocks below a cliff when the wave struck, according to Coos County Sheriff's Deputy Sally Kelly.

Coast Guard Group/Air Station North Bend was notified 10 minutes later, according to Kevin St. Pierre, a spokesman at the base. A Charleston Fire coastal rescue team reached the park within 15 minutes, at about the same time a Coast Guard motor lifeboat arrived from the Charleston lifeboat station. Coos County Sheriff's deputies also went to the scene and Coos Bay Fire dispatched a rope-rescue squad.

The high surf made a beach rescue impossible and forced the lifeboat crew to keep their distance from the accident scene. Finally, Air Station North Bend sent another crew aboard an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter, which reached Cape Arago at 6:54 p.m.

As the guard members searched for Ford, members of a Bay Cities Ambulance crew comforted her distraught companions. In a parking loop crowded with sheriff's cars and fire department vehicles, safety personnel looked on, spectators in the struggle taking place in the water more than 300 feet away.

Rescue workers heard Ford calling out for help more than 30 minutes after the mishap but not until 7:08 p.m. did the Coast Guard helicopter's piercing infrared strobe light locate her in the dark. As the aircraft hovered as close as 10 feet above the surface, a rescue swimmer, Petty Officer 2nd Class Bob Florisi, was lowered into the surf and pulled the victim to safety at 7:22 p.m.

Ford was flown to Air Station North Bend, then taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Bay Area Hospital. She was released later Sunday night, according to a nursing supervisor.

Despite being stranded in near-freezing water for more than an hour, the Coos Bay woman suffered only cuts and bruises from her ordeal, said St. Pierre, the Coast Guard spokesman.

"We were expecting a lot worse than that," he said about two hours after the accident. "She's really a very lucky girl."