Injured Man Evacuated From Freight Vessel On Hudson River

CATSKILL, NY — Emergency personnel recently evacuated an injured man from a freight vessel as it was traveling down the Hudson River.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Ulster County Sheriff’s Office got the 23-year-old man off the vessel March 27 after he sustained a spinal injury onboard, the sheriff’s office announced this week.

The Coast Guard received a report of a medical emergency on the vessel, which was southbound on the river near Catskill, around 6:50 p.m.

An on-call surgeon advised the Coast Guard that the injured man should be evacuated, and officials contacted the sheriff’s office for help.

The man, a fourth assistant engineer from China, was serving aboard the Sheng Ping Hai, a freight vessel en route from Albany to Barranquilla, Colombia, officials said.

An Ulster County sheriff’s vessel, M27, maneuvered alongside the freight vessel as it remained under power and continued down the river. A crew had to maintain pace with the freight vessel while deputies, Coast Guard officials and members of Diaz Memorial Ambulance Service worked together to transfer the injured crewmember onto M27. Video of the evacuation effort is on Facebook.

The patient transfer was finished when the vessels were near the Saugerties Lighthouse.

The injured crewmember was taken to Health Alliance Hospital in Kingston for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The Coast Guard is investigating the circumstances surrounding the man’s injury.