Tanker Crewmember Medevaced off Corpus Christi

An ailing mariner was medevaced from an oil tanker 9 miles off Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a medevac request at 2:14 p.m. via cell phone from the crew of the 899-foot, Bahamas-flagged Karvounis stating a crewmember on board was displaying symptoms of a possible stroke.

A Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and a Station Port Aransas 45-foot Response Boat – Medium (RB-M) boat crew launched to assist. A Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircrew also launched to provide overflight and relay communications.

The RB–M boat crew arrived on scene, embarked the crewmember and transported him to Station Port Aransas where emergency medical services personnel were waiting.

"Our crew responded quickly and had to adapt in adverse conditions," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Trey Hicks, Station Port Aransas coxswain. "We worked together diligently to embark the 53-year-old male and safely transport him to awaiting emergency medical services personnel onshore."