U.S. Navy Medevacs Crewmember from U.S.-Flagged Cable Layer off Guam

On Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy teamed up to evacuate an ill crewmember from a U.S.-flagged cable layer off the coast of Guam.

At about 1010 hours on Monday, the Coast Guard station at Guam received a distress call from the captain of the cable-layer Decisive. A 60-year-old crewmember had heart attack symptoms, and needed higher care. At the time, the ship was 400 nautical miles offshore - too far to reach with a helicopter for medevac.

Decisive made way towards Guam to close the distance, and the Coast Guard checked in with the vessel's crew every four hours for a status update. On Tuesday morning, Decisive approached within helicopter range of Guam, and the Coast Guard dispatched a U.S. Navy Knighthawk helicopter aircrew to retrieve the mariner.

The Knighthawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 arrived on scene at 1145 hours Tuesday and hoisted the mariner aboard. He was transferred to Naval Hospital Guam for further care.

Decisive (ex name Tyco Decisive) is a U.S.-flagged cable layer built at Keppel in 2003. She is operated by a manager in Baltimore and crewed by the SIU.

The medevac was the third in a matter of weeks for HSC-25, which works with the Coast Guard to provide SAR coverage on and around the island. Previously, the squadron medevaced a 27-year-old woman who had sustained spinal injuries in a fall, and a mariner who was experiencing serious abdominal pain aboard a foreign-flagged ship.