Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi Command Center News

A U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter crew medevaced the captain of a tanker approximately 50 miles offshore of Corpus Christi Wednesday morning. Watch the video here. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi command center were notified Tuesday at approximately 4:30 p.m. that the 50-year-old captain of the Weser, a 422-foot oil and chemical tanker vessel was experiencing severe pain in his leg with a possible blood clot. A Coast Guard flight surgeon concurred with the need for medevac.

The Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi Command Center received a distress call from the 68-foot-long shrimping vessel Huachinango (“wha-chin-ahn-go”), taking on water 37 miles offshore of Baffin Bay. The three people aboard activated two de-watering pumps and started to keep pace with the flooding in the engine compartment. However, the flooding quickly covered the lower half of the engine room and they had difficulty keeping power for the pumps with their generator. The Coast Guard Cutter Brant, an 87-foot patrol boat on patrol offshore, and an MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew from Sector Corpus Christi were dispatched to assist. The helicopter arrived on scene first and lowered their rescue swimmer and a de-watering pump to assist the flooded vessel.