Rough Weather Made Medevac Challenging... But These Guys Are Good

Aero-News learned this weekend the US Coast Guard conducted the long range medevac rescue of an injured fisherman approximately 130 miles east-southeast of Galveston, TX the night of April 4.

At about 5:30 pm Wednesday, a watchstander at Coast Guard Sector Houston/Galveston received a call from the research ship Fairfield Encounter, relaying a Mayday call from the fishing boat Rio Panama. A crewman on the Rio Panama had been struck in the head with a block, and was in a lot of pain and having trouble breathing.

Coast Guard Air Station Houston launched an HH-65C Dolphin helicopter to medevac the man. Due to the extreme distance involved, Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi launched an HU-25 Falcon jet to assist.

The helicopter arrived on scene and hoisted the injured fisherman -- a task made quite challenging due to heavy rain, rough seas and high winds.

The injured fisherman was transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Bravo, guys. Well done.

FMI: www.uscg.mil