Airmen lead effort to rescue injured crewman at sea

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kelley Jeter
  • 3rd Air Force-UK Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, England (AFNS) --  American Airmen and aircraft were part of an international effort over the Atlantic Ocean that saved the life of a crewmember who suffered a life-threatening head injury onboard a cargo ship Dec. 10 more than 320 miles west of Cork, Ireland.

The Burmese crewmember was injured at sea on a Liberian-flagged cargo vessel and an HH-60G Pave Hawk aircrew from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, rescued him and took him to safety. 

In coordination with British rescue officials, a U.S. Air Force command and control hub in Germany orchestrated numerous assets from England to rescue the crewmember in little more than 12 hours.

The crewmember had fallen 40 feet from a container, sustaining injuries that couldn't be properly treated on board the ship. With the ship well out at sea, and no quick way for the ship to reach support facilities, a rescue effort was the only solution for this injured crewman.

Officials from the British Ministry of Defense quickly realized the need for longer distance air-refuelable helicopters in order to reach the sea-going vessel and called on the American Air Force in England for assistance. As the Royal Air Force launched a Nimrod maritime surveillance aircraft from RAF Kinloss in Scotland to monitor the situation and provide communication support, the U.S. Air Force began quickly putting a plan into action.

In constant communication with U.S. European Command officials and the rescue aircraft, members of the 603rd Air Operations Center's Personnel Recovery Coordination Cell at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, launched into action, providing coordination for all necessary players making the mission possible.

The 56th Rescue Squadron out of the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath put highly-trained pararescuemen on two HH-60G helicopters to fly the significant distance to the vessel, medically attend to the injured man, and set out shortly after noon. With a range of just more than 500 nautical miles, refueling was a must for this mission.

Airmen of the 67th Special Operations Squadron out of RAF Mildenhall in England got one of their MC-130P Combat Shadow aerial refuelers in the air to refuel the helicopters to complete the rescue. But this mission was so far out at sea, even the MC-130P would need refueling.

To make this happen the 603rd Air and Space Operations Center's Air Mobility Division staff tasked the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall to refuel the MC-130P, and after quick reaction and planning by the tanker unit, a 351st Air Refueling Squadron tanker and crew were soon airborne.

At the rendezvous time around 8:30 p.m., with precision orchestration of the various aircrafts' flight plans, the Air Force pararescuemen were lowered to the pitching deck of the MV Anna Rickmers to attend to the injured patient. As helos circled in the darkness, the sea churned beneath and the refueling aircraft remained in the vicinity at the ready, the pararescuemen were able to stabilize the crewmember sufficiently to be safely hoisted to an HH-60G and flown to dry land.

Two hours later, the helos touched down in Shannon, Ireland, where an ambulance was waiting to transport the patient to a local hospital. The patient was admitted and is now in stable condition.

"The U.K. and U.S. rescue coordination was outstanding," said Lt. Col. Neil Eisen, the 56th Rescue Squadron commander. "Everything came together so we could get out there to save a life."

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