U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area

Courtesy Story

BOSTON - Coast Guard rescue crews worked together today to help an injured crew member aboard a sailboat near Matinicus Island, Maine.

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England was notified that a crew member aboard the sailing vessel Shiela, that was headed to Nova Scotia, had sustained a possible spine injury and needed medical assistance.

A 47-foot boat crew from Coast Guard Station Rockland launched to the scene and escorted the 27-foot sailboat to meet an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, who would airlift the patient.

The patient was hoisted from the boat and transported to Rockland, Maine, where paramedics were standing by for further transport to an area hospital.

"Weather conditions were certainly a factor in this case," said Paul Conner, a search and rescue controller at Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. "Rescue crews worked to stabilize the patient in the rough conditions by escorting the sailboat to an area more sheltered from the weather, to allow for a safer hoist."

At the time of the hoist, seas were four to six feet with winds gusting to 20 miles per hour.

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