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Coast Guard medevacs man 110 miles east of Virginia Beach

Posted at 7:05 PM, May 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-07 19:05:12-04

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard medevaced a man from a motor vessel approximately 110 miles east of Virginia Beach Saturday morning.

The Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth was notified at about 7:45 p.m. Friday.

A 68-year-old Croatian crewman aboard the 590-foot Marshall Islands-flagged motor vessel Atlantic Tramp was unconscious and experienced symptoms including forgetfulness, loss of balance, slurred speech and drooping of the right side of his face.

Because of the amount of time since the man’s symptoms began and the dangers of conducting a medevac in the dark, the Coast Guard planned to medevac the man at dawn. The Atlantic Tramp crew monitored the man’s condition overnight.A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina at approximately 6:45 a.m.

The aircrew arrived about 110 miles east of Virginia Beach at around 7:45 a.m.

The man was hoisted, then taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital at about 8:20 a.m.

He is in stable condition.

“Our training and teamwork allowed us to safely complete the mission and we were glad to be able to help,” said Lt. Seth Craven, co-pilot for the case.