Rescue swimmer tears through a cabin roof to free a sailor trapped off Coronado
A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Ventura pulled a man from a grounded, flooding sailboat near Coronado early Sunday, after a Station San Diego boat crew found the water too shallow and rough to reach him.
CORONADO: A Coast Guard rescue swimmer tore open part of a sailboat's cabin roof early Sunday to free a man trapped inside the grounded, flooding vessel near Coronado, the Coast Guard said.
The call came at 4 a.m., when watch standers at the Joint Harbor Operations Center received a transferred 911 call from the man reporting that his vessel was aground and taking on water. A Coast Guard Station San Diego boat crew located the sailboat but was unable to approach it because of shallow water and hazardous conditions.
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Ventura arrived and lowered Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike Antoon, an aviation survival technician, to the vessel. Antoon found the man trapped inside the partially submerged cabin, struggling to breathe as waves washed over the boat. He gave the man his snorkel to breathe through, then tore open part of the cabin roof to free him.
Airlifted to Sector San Diego
The helicopter crew carried the man to Coast Guard Sector San Diego, where he was transferred to waiting emergency medical services personnel at about 7:25 a.m., a little under three and a half hours after his call.
Antoon credited the outcome to the whole crew working smoothly and, in his words, a bit of good fortune, and said he counts himself fortunate to do the job. The Coast Guard release did not name the sailor or describe his condition beyond the transfer to medical personnel.
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