SAN PEDRO, Calif.- Local Coast Guard air assets based out of Southern California were busy this weekend with rescues to include 2 medical hoists and 2 responses to flare sightings.
Air Station Los Angeles responded to a call from a cruise ship that had a 64 year old male in critical condition. With the HH-65 Helicopter from Air Station Los Angeles, a rescue swimmer was deployed onto the cruise ship and hoisted the patient who was then transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in stable condition.
Later in the weekend, Air Station Los Angeles was again able to assist in a hoist rescue for an injured crewman from a 400 foot Panamanian flagged dry cargo ship. The patient reportedly had fallen 10 feet into a cargo hold and sustained bone injuries. The patient was hoisted and was in stable condition.
Air Station remained busy through the weekend when two red flares were sighted off the coast of Santa Barbara. The helicopter was sent up and did searches of the shoreline along with a small boat from Station Los Angeles-Long Beach. Both Coast Guard units were wrapping up their search with no signs of distress seen when the report of 5 red flares off the coast of Cambria came in. Fortunately, this case was a false alarm and all units returned safely.
The crews at all Coast Guard Units are trained to handle many types of scenarios and need to be able to adapt to constantly changing conditions during emergency cases. This past weekend demonstrated how training leads to successful operational missions and how this training leads to lives being saved.
