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Coast Guard medevacs crewman from submarine

The Coast Guard medically evacuated a crew member Tuesday from a submarine off the coast of Washington.

The Navy contacted the Coast Guard at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday to request assistance in transferring a crew member to a hospital from a submarine, according to a Coast Guard press release.

Coast Guard Air Station Astoria, Ore., launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew to assist. The rescue helicopter arrived on scene at 7:12 p.m. and hoisted the crew member by basket from the sail of the submarine. The man was transferred to Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in Portland, Ore.

The crewman was transferred Wednesday to Madigan Army Medical Center, said Navy Lt. Kellie Randall, a spokeswoman for Submarine Group 9 based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. She would not release his name or condition because of privacy reasons. She also would not release the name of the submarine.

“We can’t release that because they are out on patrol,” Randall said.

She did not have statistics on how often sailors need to be medically evacuated from submarines, but she said personnel transfers are relatively common.