NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard had a busy Wednesday, saving six people by helicopter during two separate rescue operations.
The first rescue happened in the 8 a.m. hour, when the Coast Guard received a report of an aircraft making an emergency landing in the water, roughly 16 miles south of Terrebonne.
After arriving on the scene, the Coast Guard found four people – Reid Aldrich of Nampa, Ind., David Portlock of Lafayette, Brian Meadows of Carencro, and John Howell of Cape Coral, Fla. – staying afloat on emergency floatation devices.
Rescue helicopters were able to transfer the four back to safety to the Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma. A Good Samaritan fishing vessel, Nhu-Uyen and motor vessel CAPT. Joel, aided in the rescue.
The conditions of the four rescued are unknown.
In the second incident, which happened at about 3:30 p.m., a boat sank five miles northwest of Baptiste Collette Bayou, near Venice.
Using the boat’s radio frequencies, the Coast Guard was able to pinpoint the location of the vessel and send help. A boat and a helicopter were sent to the scene, where they found the boat submerged in water and two people wearing life jackets in the water.
The two people were transferred to awaiting EMS in Venice.
"Two pieces of equipment saved the two mariner's lives: a working VHF marine-band radio and life jackets. Using their VHF radio allowed the mariners to make direct contact to the Coast Guard and allowed us to use direction finding equipment to obtain the vessel's position," said Lt. Cheryl Hickey, the command duty officer at Sector New Orleans. "Additionally, wearing Coast Guard-approved life jackets kept the mariners afloat and made them visible to the rescue crew."
