The incident took place on 22 April. The watchstanders of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans and Coast Guard Eighth District received a report at around 10 pm from Allseas’ Solitaire, reporting that a crew member aged 32 years was experiencing excruciating abdominal pain.
Following this request, Sector New Orleans watchstanders promptly coordinated to launch Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk crew members to offer advanced assistance.
Once the helicopter crew members reached the scene on Sunday, a little after midnight, and hoisted the member, the offshore employee was transported to University Medical Center based in New Orleans. Per the Coast Guard, the member was last known to be in a stable state.
Allseas’ Solitaire vessel reportedly boasts a pipe-carrying capacity of about 22,000 t while manoeuvring on full dynamic positioning permits the vessel to operate in congested areas safely. It can accommodate up to 420 guests.
The Coast Guard has recently medevaced, about a month back, yet another crew member on this vessel, who had suddenly started suffering seizure-like symptoms.
Even though medevacs are not rare in the oil and gas sector (offshore), the US Coast Guard’s assistance was needed several times in this sector in the past few months, particularly in March this year.
Reference: Offshore Energy, OE Digital