The Coast Guard came to the rescue for a man who’d become seriously ill on his boat in Virginia Friday. He was airlifted to safety, thanks to his personal locator beacon, his quick-thinking wife, and a brave search and rescue crew.
The woman called the Coast Guard from their boat when her 53-year-old husband became ill and fatigued, and needed to go to the hospital. At the same time, USCG got an alert from his personal locator beacon (PLB).
Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads put an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, a 45-foot Motor Lifeboat (MLB) crew from Station Milford Haven and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Dolphin, on the case.
In choppy waters, the boat crews worked together to anchor the couple’s boat and transferred the ill man to the lifeboat, a safer platform to complete the hoist from. The helicopter crew airlifted the man and rushed him to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.
Watch the rescue caught on Coast Guard video below:
“Thanks to the quick actions of his wife, like activating the PLB, we were able to pinpoint the couple’s location and get him the proper medical attention that he required quickly,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Kristopher Gordon, search and rescue coordinator at Sector Hampton Roads.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
