Tue, Dec 07, 2010
Piper PA-46 Went Down Off The Louisiana Coast
The Coast Guard medevaced four people on Saturday after their
plane went down 170 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of
Mexico.
Piper Malibu File Photo
Rescued were Gary Intravia, from Mandeville, LA, Kelly McHugh,
from Madisonville, LA, Ken Ross and Greg Drude, from Hammond,
LA.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard District Eight Command Center
received a report at approximately 1440 CST from the FAA stating
that a Piper PA-46 Malibu aircraft with four people aboard had to
ditch in the Gulf of Mexico. An MH-65C helicopter and crew from
Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, the Coast Guard Cutter
Pompano, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Gulfport, MS, and a
HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft and crew from Coast Guard Aviation
Training Center, Mobile, AL, were all deployed to the scene.
The crew of the West Sirius, an offshore drilling unit in the
vicinity of the crash, deployed a fast response boat and was able
to recover all four people alive from a life raft and transported
them back to the West Sirius where they were given an initial
evaluation by the MODU's medical staff. The Coast Guard's MH-65C
landed on the West Sirius and is taking the four people to West
Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, LA, for further
evaluation.
"Training and preparation potentially saved their lives," said
Lt. Cliff Beard, search and rescue coordinator at District Eight's
Command Center. "They had the presence of mind to prepare their
life raft and don their life jackets prior to the water landing.
They also communicated pertinent information such as their
location, how many of them there were and what color their life
raft was."
There are no reports of serious injury.
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