Coast Guard crews hoisted an injured man from a Canadian naval vessel sailing the northern portion of Puget Sound’s Admiralty Inlet on Friday morning.
Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound’s command center in Seattle received a message at around 10:30 a.m. Friday that an injured man was on board the Royal Canadian Navy coastal defense vessel Nanaimo.
In a prepared statement emailed to Navy Times, the Coast Guard indicated that the unnamed man had sustained a head laceration from a fall and appeared to show signs of a concussion.
But officials didn’t say where or when he was hurt and it remains unclear if the accident occurred on board the 181-foot Kingston-class patrol boat when it was underway.
The Seattle watchstanders diverted a Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew that had been training near the Nanaimo’s position. They arrived shortly after noon and lowered a rescue swimmer to the vessel’s forward deck, according to the statement.
With the help of the Canadian sailors, the aircrew placed the patient into a basket and hoisted him into the helicopter. They landed at Harbor View Medical Hospital at 12:19 p.m. and he was transported by ambulance to Virginia Mason Hospital for care, it stated.
Coast Guard officials said they do not know his condition but the Nanaimo continued its journey.
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Commercial vessel tracking sites showed the Nanaimo was tied up Saturday morning alongside a Bell Harbor pier in Seattle.
According to the Royal Canadian Navy, the vessel is crewed almost entirely by naval reservists and usually carries a complement of 37 sailors.
It’s homeported at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in British Columbia.
