|
The Shell drillship Noble Discoverer awaits the arrival of a Coast Guard helicopter 68 miles west of Nome Wednesday. The Coast Guard medevaced a man complaining of an irregular heartbeat to Nome, from where he was subsequently flown to Anchorage for treatment. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard / August 29, 2012) |
According to Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis, the 17th District command center in Juneau received a medevac request at 4 a.m. from the Noble Discoverer, 68 miles west of Nome, whose crew reported the 59-year-old man as stable.
After consulting with a Coast Guard duty flight surgeon who concurred with the need for a medevac, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter attached to the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley anchored off Nome was launched just before 8 a.m. The helicopter landed on the 514-foot-long drillship’s helipad half an hour later and picked up the man, then flew him to Nome. A LifeMed air ambulance then took him to an Anchorage hospital for treatment.
In a Wednesday statement, 17th District commander Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo credited the Coast Guard’s Arctic Shield 2012 exercises, which have set up a forward operating location in Barrow and stationed two Coast Guard cutters with helicopters in the region, for aiding in the quick response.
“Having a forward-deployed helicopter crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley provides us with the ability to quickly respond to emergencies like this in remote Northern Alaska," Ostebo said. "As part of our Arctic Shield 2012 operations, we strategically placed our assets and personnel to fulfill our traditional Coast Guard missions in the Arctic.”
The Noble Discoverer was also in the news in February when Greenpeace activists, including actress Lucy Lawless, boarded the vessel at a port in New Zealand in an attempt to delay its departure for Shell’s drilling operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
In July, divers found no signs of grounding after an incident in which the drillship became unanchored near Dutch Harbor, prompting environmental groups to express concern about the vessel’s safety during drilling operations.
