Coast Guard Sector Columbia River MH-60 helicopter file photo
SEATTLE – A Coast Guard aircrew medevaced a man Monday who suffered a severe hand injury aboard a commercial freighter 135 miles off the Washington coast.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Thirteenth District command center received a call from Canadian dispatch in Victoria at 9:30 a.m., reporting a 39-year-old male aboard had injured his hand and leg during a fall.
At the time, the vessel was located 135 miles west of Cape Flattery en route to China.
The command center launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Sector Columbia River.
At approximately 12:30 p.m., the rescue crew arrived on scene, hoisted the injured man and proceeded to Astoria, Oregon. The patient was transferred to awaiting emergency medical services personnel at the airport just after 2 p.m.
EMS brought the patient to Columbia Memorial Hospital for a higher level of care.
The patient’s current medical condition is unknown.
