HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C. – The Coast Guard located and rescued an 80-year-old boater in the Pamlico Sound near Hatteras Island.
The man’s family called the Coast Guard Saturday evening when he didn’t return home to his family as expected after going out on the water at about 8 a.m. Saturday.
Watchstanders immediately issued an urgent marine information broadcast and sent out search crews.
Crews searched through the night and were joined by others early Sunday morning.
SPC-SW crews from Coast Guard Stations Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet joined the search, as well as an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City. North Carolina Marine Fisheries, North Carolina Wildlife, Avon Fire Department, Buxton Fire Department, Hatteras Fire Department and the National Park Service also assisted in the search.
The man was found adrift in his 18-foot boat eight miles northeast of Hatteras Island around 8 a.m. Sunday. He was unconscious but breathing.
The Hatteras Island Rescue skiff crew brought the man to Avon Harbor, where Dare County EMS met them and took the man to Avon Medical Center.
A helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City flew transported the man from Avon to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, arriving just after 10 a.m.
“We are very pleased that the cooperation among the Coast Guard and our local partners resulted in locating this man and bringing him to the medical care he needed as quickly as possible,” said Chief Warrant Officer Keith Moore, Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command duty officer for the case.
