PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard medevaced an approximately 50-year-old Virginia Beach man off a commercial vessel approximately 10 miles east of Rudee Inlet on Saturday.
The captain of the Miss Lindsey, a 48-foot commercial diving vessel, contacted Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders at about 10:30 a.m., reporting that a man became unconscious approximately 10 minutes into a dive.
A boat crew from Coast Guard Station Little Creek in Virginia Beach responded to the scene along with a boat crew from the Virginia Beach Fire Department with emergency medical services personnel aboard, as the Miss Linsey headed toward shore while administering CPR to the unconscious man.
The Coast Guard crew met the diving vessel and transferred the diver and an emergency medical technician aboard their boat. The crew then transported the diver and EMT to the Rudee Inlet Fishing Center where the man was transferred to awaiting Virginia Beach emergency medical services personnel and he was taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. He was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
“The captain of the Miss Linsey’s knowledge of the local area and professional response assisted the diver in getting medical attention in a timely manner,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Tony Johnson, a search and rescue coordinator at Sector Hampton Roads.
