Overwater Rescue

Posted 29 November 2012
Photo by SSgt. Kim E. Ramirez

Air National Guardsmen from the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield, California, successfully completed a complex overwater rescue of a severely injured crew member from a Marshall Islands-flagged merchant vessel approximately 300 miles off the coast of Mexico on 29 November 2012. An HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopter crew, accompanied by an MC-130P Combat Shadow personnel recovery aircraft crew, departed Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and flew to the merchant vessel's location. Pararescuemen boarded the vessel via hoist and prepared the patient for recovery. After a two-hour flight in the Pave Hawk, the patient was then loaded onto the MC-130P at Cabo and flown to MCAS Miramar, California. The patient was subsequently transported via ambulance to a level-four trauma center.

Comments