On July 8, a team of Air Force Pararescue (PJs) Airmen conducted a parachute jump from an HC-130 Combat King aircraft into the Pacific Ocean after a distress call was sent out from a Costa Rican fishing vessel named Victoria G.
The Airmen, assigned to 129th Rescue Wing, rushed to the scene after the distress call went out on July 7. A pulley system broke on the ship causing a metal pole to strike one of the fishermen, knocking him unconscious. He continued to suffer from blood loss and vomiting caused by the head injuries.
"The seriousness of the young patient's injuries was in the back of our minds the whole time we were weighing the risks of jumping a team in at night into such a remote location," Tech. Sgt. Tammer Barkouki, the 131st Rescue Squadron jump master explained. "We had to assume his injuries were possibly life-threatening or could lead to permanent neurological damage if left untreated."
After the PJs jumped into the ocean, they boarded the Victoria G, treated the patient and prepared him to be transferred to a larger fishing vessel named the Royal Midori. The PJs and their patient then sailed for the coast of Costa Rica where the patient was moved to a hospital.
"It is a great feeling to know that we could aid an injured person over 2,000 miles away and help bring him home," Barkouki said.
