A crew member had to be airlifted from a ship that was off Government Cut Tuesday morning after suffering a fall, officials said.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said they received a call of a hazardous situation involving a vessel in distress around 9:15 a.m. after a person was injured in a fall.
The crew member is the master of the ship Atlantic Power, which was anchored offshore when he was injured in a slip and fall on the exterior stairs, officials with Atlantic Oceanic LLC said.
A fire rescue boat initially responded but the conditions in the water made it difficult to get the person safely off the ship, so a fire rescue helicopter also responded.
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"We saw that the ship was encountering high wind, high waves, which would have made it difficult for the fireboat to extricate the patient on a normal means through a ladder," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Christopher Kramer said. "The best possible option for that patient since he did have some type of compromising issue was to hoist the patient off the boat.
Video showed the person being hoisted onto the helicopter and rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center.
"Pretty difficult situation, this is something that we train for continually throughout the year," Kramer said. "Hoisting off of boats are particularly hard because they are moving targets, sometimes they can move. In this situation this ship was moving and had it swaying about 200 feet in either direction which makes it difficult to keep over target to hoist the patient."
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Officials with the company said the injuries weren't life threatening and the crew member was expected to make a full recovery.
"The company would like to extend heartfelt thanks not only to the USCG and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for their prompt and professional response but also to the crew on board, whose quick reactions ensured the master received medical attention as swiftly as possible," Atlantic Oceanic VP Paul Crowther said in a statement.
