San Diego : Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy Join in Rescue

Aided by an elaborate rescue effort, an injured tuna fisherman was flown to a San Diego hospital Friday after his legs were slashed by propeller blades on a dinghy cruising alongside a commercial fishing vessel 1,400 miles southwest of San Diego.

Norbert Druman, 23, of San Diego, suffered severe cuts on both legs after he fell overboard and was drawn under the dinghy’s propeller, Coast Guard Petty Officer Pat Milton said. “We have him in stable condition, but he is seriously injured,” she said.

The rescue effort, involving a Coast Guard helicopter, a C-130 aircraft, three Air Force paramedics and a U.S. Navy flight surgeon, was launched shortly after officials received word of Tuesday’s accident.

Paramedics from McClellen Air Force Base near Sacramento boarded the fishing vessel Wednesday after they parachuted into the water from a twin-engine Sikorsky helicopter, Milton said.

Initial plans called for the paramedics to apply first aid while the 177-foot Cheryl Marie headed full steam to tiny Cedros Island, about 40 miles west of the Baja Peninsula. There, the injured fisherman was to be placed on the C-130 and taken to San Diego. But as Druman’s condition worsened, authorities decided that a helicopter airlift would be necessary, Milton said. Druman was hoisted from the ship Friday at noon and flown to Cedros, where the C-130 waited.