Coast Guard medevacs 1 from ship in Chesapeake Bay


BALTIMORE - The Coast Guard medevaced a man from a ship in the Chesapeake Bay Sunday.

Rescued was Eugene McCormick, 69.

The Coast Guard received a call via cellular phone at 6:15 p.m., from the pilot of the Carnival Pride, a 963-foot cruise ship, requesting the medevac of McCormick, who was reportedly suffering from a restricted breathing due to food being lodged in his airway.

A 41-foot utility boat crew from Coast Guard Station Annapolis, Md., arrived on scene at 7:12 p.m., and transported McCormick and his wife from the cruise ship to awaiting Anne Arundel County EMS at Annapolis Harbor. McCormick was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

"The quick action taken by the crew of the Carnival Pride to notify the Coast Guard aided us in getting rescue personnel to the scene quickly," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Stanley, a search and rescue coordinator at Coast Guard Sector Baltimore. "These quick actions may have prevented a bad situation from turning into something far worse."

The Carnival Pride runs 7 day cruises to Port Canaveral, Nassau and Freeport Bahamas and had just left the port of Baltimore at 5 pm when the passenger bit off more than he could chew.