Tanker Aids Ailing Boater Off Louisiana

An oil/chemicals tanker came to the rescue of an ailing boater some 55 miles south of Lake Charles, La., on Friday.

A man aboard a 22-foot pleasure craft put in a call for help to the U.S. Coast Guard via VHF-FM channel 16 at 3:03 p.m. stating that his wife was displaying symptoms of a heat stroke.

The nearby vessel Stolt Perseverance responded to an urgent marine information broadcast issued by Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector Houston-Galveston. The tanker moored alongside the pleasure craft and transported the 43-year-old woman onto their ship where she received medical attention from a physician on board.

Meanwhile, a Coast Guard Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew launched to conduct a medevac. Once on scene, the helicopter crew hoisted the ailing woman and transported her to the Chennault Airport where local emergency medical services personnel picked her up and took her to a local hospital.

She was reported to be in stable condition.

Stolt Perseverance is a 2001-built, 37,059 DWT tanker registered in the Cayman Islands and operated by Stolt Tankers.