On Friday, the United States Coast Guard was called to medevac a crewmember from a fishing vessel who was suffering from hypothermia.

The Coast Guard received the call shortly after 5 pm on Friday reporting a hypothermic man, and launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter at 5:55 pm to the 58-foot fishing vessel “Stella” located in Shelikof Straits. It arrived under an hour later to the scene according to Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis stationed at Coast Guard Airstation Kodiak.

The crewmember, who remains unnamed, had fallen overboard earlier and had been in the frigid waters of Shelikof Straits for more than 25 minutes without a survival suit. The crewmember was working on deck when he went into the water as the vessel was actively involved in fisheries. Efforts to pluck the man from the 37.6-degree water were delayed as the vessel had to retrieve the nets it was towing to a point to allow maneuvering of the vessel.

Prior to the arrival of the helicopter, CPR was administered to the very cold crewmember by crewmen of the vessel.

“This crew did everything right to rescue this man and this is a perfect example of why vessel crews need to practice their emergency drills monthly,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Cole an operations specialist and search and rescue controller with the Coast Guard 17th District command center. “They were fortunate to be so close to Kodiak and our hoist capable helicopters allowing the patient to be delivered to advanced medical care in a matter of hours.”

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the man overboard incident according to Petty Officer Francis.