The United States Coast Guard (USCG) announced this week that it performed CPR on a man after a crane collapsed near Memphis, Tennessee.
“At approximately 10.15 [on September 19]a Wepfer Marine drydock crane fell into the water with a crane operator inside,” the USCG said in a statement posted on its site.
“A good Samaritan in a nearby towboat entered the water and was able to locate the unresponsive crane operator,” he added.
“The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Ouachita and a crew member of the Coast Guard Cutter Obion were nearby when the crane collapsed and responded to the incident. The crew used a nearby fire hose as life preservers to pull the two people to shore and pull them out of the water,” he continued.
Once at the dock, the crew checked the crane operator’s vitals and began performing CPR, the USCG said in the statement.
“After administering CPR, the crew was able to verify a pulse and signs of life and controlled the crane operator until medical transport arrived,” the USCG added.
Local emergency medical services arrived on scene and relieved the Coast Guard crew members, according to the USCG, which said the crane operator was transported to a higher level of care medical
“I couldn’t be more proud of how our crew responded,” Coast Guard Cutter Ouachita Chief Petty Officer Will Parris said in a USCG statement.
“They relied on their training, experience and each other to get the gentleman the attention he needed,” he added.
In a statement posted on its Page X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the USCG said that “when a crane fell into the water near Memphis, Tennessee, the quick thinking of members close to the ‘USCG proved vital to the crane operator’s survival.’
“Proper training is essential to all USCG missions, and the life-saving CPR used in this case is no exception,” the USCG added in a statement to X.
The USCG said in a statement posted on its site that the cause of the incident is still under investigation.
Rigzone has reached out to Wepfer Marine for comment on the statement posted on the USCG site. As of this writing, the company has yet to respond to Rigzone.
In a separate statement posted on its site on September 15, the USCG disclosed that it had evacuated an “ill” crew member from a tanker approximately 50 miles southeast of Corpus Christi.
“Watchmen at the Coast Guard District Eight Command Center received a call at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday from the crew of the Gem No. 5 crude oil tanker that a 28-year-old crew member had been sick for five days,” the USCG said in the statement.
“Watchmen consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended that the tanker crew continue to transit ashore and continuously reassess the man’s condition,” he added.
“At 8:40 a.m. on Friday, the crew of Gem No. 5 contacted Coast Guard watchdogs and reported that the crewman’s condition had not improved. The flight surgeon recommended a medical evacuation.” , it continued.
In the statement, the USCG noted that an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft crew from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi launched to assist the crew.
“The helicopter crew arrived on scene, lifted the ill man and transported the patient to Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi – Shoreline,” the USCG said in the statement.
“He was last reported to be in a stable condition,” it added.
The USCG posted a video of the operation on its X page last week, which can be viewed below.
A #USCG Corpus Christi Air Station helicopter crew, #Texas, today evacuated a sick crewman from a tanker about 50 miles offshore. https://t.co/zBzlmj9Bkb pic.twitter.com/9xu2qkWD95
— USCG Heartland (@USCGHeartland) September 16, 2023
Also last week, the USCG announced that it rescued a tanker crew member from the water 10 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas.
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