CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Coast Guard rescue helicopter and boat crew medevaced a 50-year-old fisherman suffering from severe abdominal pains Saturday morning, 25 miles offshore of Port O’Connor.
The captain of the commercial fishing boat Ursula made a distress call to the Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi Command Center at approximately 8 a.m., saying one of his crewmembers had been experiencing unbearable stomach pain for several hours. The Command Center dispatched a 45-foot rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Port O’Connor and a Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi crew on an MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter to hoist the man from the boat and take him to the hospital.
The helicopter crew lowered their rescue swimmer down to the bow of the fishing boat to assess the man’s condition and prepare him for the hoist. The helicopter crew then hoisted the man onboard the helicopter and transported him to Spohn Memorial Hospital.
“When we received the distress call this morning, we quickly moved to recover the patient,” said Petty Officer Second Class James Mann, the hoist operator on the helicopter. “Our teamwork with the Coast Guard boat crew from Station Port O’Connor and the professionalism of the Ursula’s crew made for a successful operation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the man and hope for a full and speedy recover.”
The fisherman is being treated at Spohn Memorial Hospital and is in stable condition.
