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Press Release | May 9, 2024

MULTIMEDIA RELEASE: Coast Guard rescues injured man from aground sailboat near Sapelo Sound, Georgia

PADET Jacksonville - Office: 904-714-7606 / After Hours: 786-393-4138

A Coast Guard Station Brunswick boat crew assists Coast Guard Air Station Savannah with a medevac near Sapelo Sound, Georgia, May 8, 2024. The operator of an aground 36-foot sailboat needed to be medevaced after sustaining a severe injury to his hand. (U.S. Coast Guard video, courtesy Air Station Savannah)

Editor's Note: Click the above image to download helicopter hoist footage. Click the here to download PADET Jacksonville imagery.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Coast Guard rescued an injured man from an aground sailboat, Wednesday, near Sapelo Sound, Georgia.  

Coast Guard Sector Charleston watchstanders received a report via VHF-FM channel 16 at 5:23 p.m. from the operator of the Quicksilver, a 36-foot sailboat, stating his vessel ran aground near Sapelo Sound and was taking on water. 

Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Brunswick boat crew and a Coast Guard Air Station Savannah helicopter crew to assist. Commercial salvage also responded to the scene. 

Commercial salvage arrived on scene and began preparing the sailboat for a tow. While attempting to recover the sailboat’s anchor, the man aboard the grounded sailboat sustained a severe injury to his hand.  

The Station Brunswick boat crew arrived on scene with McIntosh County Fire and Rescue personnel, assessed the man and recommended a medevac via helicopter due to timeliness.  

An Air Station Savannah helicopter crew safely hoisted the man from the sailboat, along with a McIntosh County Fire and Rescue emergency medical technician, and transported them to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.

Commercial salvage ungrounded the sailboat and towed it to a marina in Valona, Georgia.

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-USCG-

sailboat Air Station Savannah Station Brunswick Sapelo Sound

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