Coast Guard Rescues Injured Ship Crewmember Off San Francisco
OFF SAN FRANCISCO COAST (BCN) - The U.S Coast Guard rescued a crewmember from a ship en route to Panama on Sunday, after he was burned by one of the ships boilers three days earlier.
An air station crew medically evacuated the 46-year-old man following a call from the vessel's crew on Jan. 27, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
"The man was doing some routine maintenance to the boiler system on the ship before he was injured," Petty Officer Tony Gonzalez said. "He was burned pretty badly."
Gonzalez said that the ship's medical crew was able to stabilize the man immediately after the accident, but later sent a message to a command center in Alaska requesting additional assistance.
The 960-foot motor vessel, called the YM New Jersey, was located 60 miles off of the coast of San Francisco at the time of the rescue operation.
At approximately 6 p.m., the man was evacuated in an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and taken to St. Francis Memorial Hospital to be treated by emergency medical personnel.
Another C-130 Hercules aircraft from the air station in Sacramento assisted in the long-range rescue, the Coast Guard said.
Gonzalez said that the foreign ship was journeying from Hong Kong to Panama.
Based on the vessel's location at the time of the accident, the Alameda command center took the lead in the rescue effort.
"This type of rescue isn't unusual," Command Duty Officer Drew Molla said in a statement. "We conduct medical evacuations from boats in transit all the time."
(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
