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Coast Guard medevacs sick crewman from ship off Virginia Beach coast

Posted at 1:52 PM, Feb 27, 2015
and last updated 2015-02-27 13:52:58-05

Portsmouth, Va. - The Coast Guard medevaced a sick crewman from a German freight vessel approximately 25 miles east of Virginia Beach on Friday.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth, Virginia received a report Thursday at about 4:35 p.m. from the 1089-foot, German-flagged freight ship Houston Express, stating a male crewman was suffering from abdominal pain approximately 345 miles east of Virginia Beach.

To enable a medevac, the crew of Houston Express, en route to France, changed course toward Virginia to meet with a Coast Guard helicopter crew.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, around dawn on Friday. The aircrew met with Houston Express about 25 miles east of Virgina Beach at approximately 7:15 a.m., hoisted the man and took him to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk where he is reported as stable.