Crewman Medevaced from Freighter in Straits of Mackinac

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted a medical evacuation of a 36-year-old man from a freighter in the Straits of Mackinac Thursday evening.

Just before 6 p.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, received a report of a crew member who was experiencing shortness of breath, pain in his left arm and tightness in his chest aboard the Mesabi Miner, a 990-foot U.S. flagged motor vessel en route to Indiana Harbor, Indiana. Another crew member aboard the vessel, with medical training, was monitoring the man and reported him as conscious and ambulatory.

Sector Sault Ste. Marie watchstanders directed the launch of a boat crew from Coast Guard Station St. Ignace, Michigan, aboard a 45-foot response boat, and conducted a conference call with a duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medical evacuation.

The Mesabi Miner changed its course in order to meet the Station St. Ignace rescue crew closer to St. Ignace.

About 10 minutes later, the rescue crew arrived on scene, brought the man aboard their boat and transported him back to St. Ignace where they were met by emergency medical services personnel who stabilized the man and took him via ambulance to McLaren Northern Hospital in Petoskey, Michigan.

The man's current condition is unknown.