Coast Guard and Local Police Rescue Seafarer With Spinal Injuries

 

Last week, the U.S. Coast Guard worked with local first responders to medevac a seafarer from the deck of a Chinese freighter on the Hudson, carrying the man to safety. 

At about 1850 hours on March 27, Coast Guard Sector New York received a request for assistance from the freighter Sheng Ping Hai. The vessel had just departed Albany and was downbound on the Hudson, headed for Colombia, and a crewmember had a serious medical problem. The fourth assistant engineer, a 23-year-old man, had suffered spinal injuries and needed an evacuation. 

The Ulster County Sheriff's Office had a response boat in reach of the ship, and it dispatched a team to meet up with the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard responded as well, dispatching the small cutter USCGC Wire from Saugerties.

The injured man was carefully secured in a Stokes litter, and as the Sheng Ping Hai continued to make way downstream, the police response boat held position alongside. The crew lowered the victim down by rope to the deck of the boat, and the medevac was completed successfully. 

The seafarer was delivered safely to shore at Saugerties and transferred to a local ambulance crew for transport to a nearby hospital. His injuries were determined to be non-life-threatening, according to the sheriff's office. 

The Coast Guard is investigating the circumstances of the engineer's injury. Sheng Ping Hai continued on her commercial voyage, heading southbound down the East Coast and through the Bahamas. 

Sheng Ping Hai is a 56,000 dwt geared bulker built in 2012. She is owned by a Hainan-based company and operated by Cosco, the world's largest shipowner by tonnage.