A Coast Guard Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Sitka participated in a training exercise with a 47-foot motor life boat from Station Juneau five miles south of here in the Gastineau Channel near Taku Inlet Tuesday evening. (USCG Photo taken by Petty Officer 3rd Class Wes Shinn)

A Coast Guard Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Sitka participated in a training exercise near Juneau. (USCG Photo taken by Petty Officer 3rd Class Wes Shinn)

A Coast Guard helicopter conducted a more than five-hour search in the Haines area Wednesday evening.

The search was suspended after the air crew found no boat or person in distress.

A spokesman says the search was triggered by alerts from an emergency beacon around 5 p.m Wednesday. The distress signals were apparently coming from the Chilkat River near Haines.

A helicopter launched from Sitka and searched for five and half hours, with no discoveries.

The Coast Guard also could not find reliable registration data for the beacon. Petty Officer Bill Colclough says that contributed to the decision to end the search. He says most beacons have an associated vessel ID number, phone number or address. But this one had no data available.

Colclough says the Coast Guard thought the distress signal might be coming from the Haines airport, which is located along the Chilkat River. But they were not able to confirm that.