Posted at 2:04 p.m., Thursday, June 22, 2006
Injured man rescued off fishing boat
Advertiser Staff
The 57-foot fishing boat Jane was roughly 460 miles away from O'ahu when the Coast Guard was contacted for medical assistance.
A Coast Guard C-130 plane based at Barber's Point located the fishing boat and dropped medical supplies last night.
Meanwhile, the Pearl Harbor-based guided missile destroyer USS Chafee, on its way back from an exercise in waters north of Japan, traveled 334 miles through the night to reach the Jane. The two boats rendezvoused this morning and transferred the patient.
The man is being treated in the destroyer's hospital until he can be flown by helicopter to O'ahu, probably around 8 p.m. tonight.
Such medical assists are common, said USS Chafee Commander John Clausen.
"It's the normal way of doing business at see," he said. "We all have to look out for each other."
