PORTLAND, Oregon — A U.S. Coast Guard aircrew rescued an injured man from a cruise ship off Oregon's northern coast Thursday afternoon.
The aircrew from Astoria reached the 65-year-old man on a Koningsdam cruise ship, which was about 175 miles west of Tillamook and about 309 miles away from Astoria.
"We had received a notification that the individual did sustain injuries from a fall that had happened two days prior," said Jason Weeks, a Coast Guard lieutenant commander who was the pilot in command for the rescue.
A video of the rescue shared on social media shows the aircraft hovering over the cruise ship and then hoisting the man up from the deck. The video then shows him being transported to Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland.
The Coast Guard did not provide any initial information about the extent of the man's condition, but Weeks said that he was treated in the ICU aboard the cruise ship before the rescue. Weeks said this rescue mission was particularly challenging due to how far away the cruise ship was from the coastline.
"This call and a few others like it were unique in that it was a long-range mission almost to the upper limits of our capability for the H60 helicopter," he said. "This initially was 309 nautical miles offshore. We usually look at missions being doable around the 200 nautical mile range."
He explained that they had to get rid of a lot of weight from the aircraft so that they could take more fuel.
The aircraft carried a paramedic and a nurse from the LifeFlight network to help, which is also unique, Weeks added, because the Coast Guard doesn't typically bring personnel from other agencies along with them to these types of rescues.
Weeks also said the aircrew had to employ a relatively new procedure during the rescue mission. It involved hoisting the man and a Coast Guard rescue swimmer up at the same time while the rescue swimmer administered breathing to him.
"This is, I believe, the first time we’ve had to use this technique," he said. "So the level of care was maintained from the ICU on the ship, during the hoist and all the way up into the cabin, where the LifeFlight network paramedic and nurse were able to immediately get hands on the survivor and began treating him."
It took about an hour and 20 minutes for the aircraft to fly to OHSU.
"We recognize this was this individual’s worst day of his life — no doubt about it — so our hearts are definitely with him and his family while he’s recovering," he said.