Oil worker medevacked from offshore platform in U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has performed an evacuation via helicopter of a 37-year-old male worker from an oil platform located approximately 40 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana. 

The incident occurred on Monday, 13 March 2023, and the Coast Guard District Eight watchstanders received a call at approximately 7 a.m. from the aircrew of the Acadian Air Med, requesting assistance to medevac a crewmember aboard a platform reportedly having difficulty breathing.

Following the request, the Sector New Orleans watchstanders coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew to assist.

After the aircrew arrived on the scene and landed on the platform to pick up the worker, the man was transferred to awaiting emergency medical services personnel at the University Medical Center. According to the Coast Guard, the worker was last reported to be in stable condition.

The Coast Guard’s assistance was required several times last year in the offshore oil and gas sector. In line with this, the Coast Guard was involved in the search for four people aboard a downed helicopter in December 2022, which proved to be a busy time for the Coast Guard, as another chopper, went down with three people aboard in the Gulf of Mexico that same month.

Prior to this, the Coast Guard medevacked a 60-year-old male worker from a Transocean-owned drillship located 189 miles south of Port Fourchon. In addition, an injured crewmember was medevacked from an oil tanker approximately 58 miles offshore Southwest Pass, Louisiana.