TAMPA, Fla. – The Coast Guard medevacked a 31-year-old man Saturday from a 72-foot charter fishing vessel 80 miles west of Hernando Beach.
Watch standers at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg Command Center received a call at 3:44 p.m. from a member aboard the Florida Fisherman II, stating a crew member was suffering from stomach pain. The watch standers directed the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew.
"I am very happy with the close coordination between the crew of the Florida Fishermen II, Air Station Clearwater and Sector St. Petersburg," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jon Wheatley, an operational unit controller at Sector St. Petersburg. "We were alerted quickly and able to get this man the urgent care he needed."
The helicopter crew arrived on scene, hoisted the patient and flew him to Tampa General Hospital.
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