Cape Town – An American man had to be airlifted to land after he suffered a suspected heart attack on a fishing trawler off the coast Cape Columbine on the West Coast on Friday.
According to National Sea and Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson, Craig Lambinon, the Western Cape Government Health Emergency Medical Services rescue squad were placed on alert following a request for medical assistance from the ship.
It was sailing from Brazil to Cape Town and approximately 370 km offshore when the incident happened.
The ship was too far away to launch a rescue helicopter, so the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre instructed the crew to head towards Saldanha Bay while medical advice on the treatment of the patient was communicated to the crew by a doctor.
A helicopter from the South African Air Force was dispatched with two pilots, a flight engineer, an NSRI rescue swimmer and an EMS rescue paramedic on board when the ship was about 190 km from Ysterplaat Air Force Base.
According to Lambinon the man was a 42-year old from Massachusetts and had symptoms of having suffered a heart attack.
"They found the patient to be in a stable condition," he said.
The man was airlifted to land and transported to hospital for further treatment.
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