Northern Fleet Rescuers Helped Fisherman

28.04.2012 Sailor of a fishing trawler in need for emergency medical care was transported from the Barents Sea ashore by Northern Fleet (NF) search-and-rescue helicopter Ka-27.

Having received information from Murmansk Maritime Rescue Coordination Center that shipmaster of M-0124 Ametist was asking to bring a seriously ill crewmember ashore, naval mariners went to help civilian sailors.

The rescue flight was performed by aircrew of Ka-27PS helicopter headed by deputy squadron leader Lt. Col. Alexander Slesarev. Evacuation was performed from the trawler's deck not equipped with heliport. The sick sailor was lifted to the helicopter hovering at 17-meter height with the help of salvage winch.

To bring the sailor to hospital promptly, the helicopter landed near Leningrad Highway in Murmansk. Being transshipped to the ambulance car, the seaman was delivered to one of Murmansk city hospitals.

It was not the first time aircrews of NF naval aviation rendered assistance to civil sailors. In Nov 2011, NF rescue helicopter brought ashore a suffered sailor from distressed refrigerator Bereg Nadezhdy in severe gale conditions of the Barents Sea. Pilots of ASW airplane Il-38 successfully carried out search operation in the White Sea and found dry cargo ship Kapitan Kuznetsov.