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The Coast Guard received a request for a medevac from the captain aboard the cargo ship Santiago, a 572-foot Marshall Islands-flagged vessel at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-130 Long Range Surveillance Aircraft launched from Air Station Kodiak at 2:45 p.m., after a Coast Guard flight surgeon recommended the medevac.

Petty Officer Levi Read (REED) in Juneau says the delay in sending out an aircraft was due to the distance the Santiago was from Kodiak. Jayhawk helicopters can make a maximum round trip of about 600 miles.

(Santiago 1                 :30s     “…to where they were.”)

Read (REED) in Juneau says attempts to visually locate the vessel were unsuccessful on the first attempt due to fog, but after a second pass, they were able to find the Santiago.

Read says a Coast Guard rescue swimmer was lowered to the vessel at 5 p.m. and had the Sri Lankan man on board at 5:30 p.m. before heading directly to Kodiak. The Coast Guard landed in Kodiak at 7:20 p.m. and delivered the patient to awaiting emergency medical service personnel.

The injured man was listed in stable condition at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center.

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