Cargo ship worker rescued via helicopter nearly 1,000 miles off the California coast

A man working on a cargo ship off the California coast had a medical emergency and was rescued via helicopter by U.S. service members from the California Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force.

According to the U.S. National Guard, the rescue happened on Oct. 9 about 920 miles off the coast of San Francisco.

The cargo ship, based out of Liberia, requested help from the U.S. Coast Guard, which contacted other branches of the U.S. military to help perform the rescue since its helicopters would not be able to reach the vessel.

Two helicopters from Cal Guard headed toward the ship with help from two airplanes from the Air Force, which helped refuel the helicopters four times during the operation.

“This mission showed how seamlessly the Air National Guard can work with active-duty Air Force personnel,” reads part of a statement from the guard’s Lt. Col. Christopher Nance, who led the operation.

Once the service members reached the ship, a member of the guard who speaks Russian and Ukrainian was able to talk with the ship’s captain and help coordinate the rescue.

The patient was hoisted into a helicopter and taken to Moffett Air National Guard Base near Mountain View. From there, he was taken by ambulance to Stanford Hospital for “immediate higher medical care.”

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