Coast Guard Searches for Down Medical Helicopter

DATE: February 05, 2008 23:51:55 CST

Office of External Affairs U.S. Coast Guard

Press Release	Date: February 5, 2008 Contact: LTJG Ben Sparacin (361) 939-6227
COAST GUARD SEARCHES FOR DOWN MEDICAL HELICOPTER
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS - The Coast Guard is searching for one pilot and two medics from a South Padre Island emergency medical services helicopter that crashed into the lower Laguna Madre Bay earlier this evening. The crew of a Coast Guard Corpus Christi HU-25C rescue aircraft located the down helicopter's fuselage and is joined in the search effort by a Coast Guard Corpus Christi HH-65C rescue helicopter, two Coast Guard Station South Padre Island rescue boats, and a rescue boat from the Coast Guard patrol boat BRANT. The Coast Guard received the report of a down helicopter at approximately 9:50 p.m. and located the wreckage at approximately 11:00 p.m. The EMS helicopter was reportedly en-route to the Port Isabel Convention Center for the medical evacuation of a patient when the crew aborted the mission due to weather and shortly there after went lost communications. The Coast Guard was assisted by the U. S. Customs and Boarder Patrol, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and local EMS agencies in locating the wreckage. ### *U.S. Coast Guard - Saving lives since 1790*