Heliport
17th Jan 2004, 07:33
From The Staten Island Advance 4 sailors on trapped boats rescued by NYPD helicopter
January 16, 2004
Battling to make a frigid air-sea rescue, officers from the Police Department's aviation unit last night picked up four U.S. Navy sailors trapped in two small patrol boats stuck in the ice on Sandy Hook Bay.
The sailors, brought via helicopter to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, and treated for exposure to the cold, are military police based at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, N.J.
They were treated for hypothermia, said University Hospital spokesman Brian Morris. Police said a NYPD helicopter crew chief was also hospitalized and treated for frostbite. All the injuries were called minor.
Nancy Eldridge, a public affairs officer at NWS Earle, said the sailors, whose names were not released, left the base at 8 p.m. in two 34-foot security boats en route to nearby Atlantic Highlands Marina. "It's pretty routine for us to use the Atlantic Highlands Marina to take the boats out of the water," she said.
The site where the boats were stuck was too shallow for the Coast Guard to assist in the rescue.
Police said members of the NYPD Aviation Unit responded at 9:20 p.m. and conducted the air-sea rescue by lifting the sailors out of the boats and into a helicopter.
During the mission, a NYPD crew chief suffered frostbite when he stuck his head outside of the helicopter to direct the rescue effort, police said.
The boats were left on the ice during the night.
January 16, 2004
Battling to make a frigid air-sea rescue, officers from the Police Department's aviation unit last night picked up four U.S. Navy sailors trapped in two small patrol boats stuck in the ice on Sandy Hook Bay.
The sailors, brought via helicopter to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, and treated for exposure to the cold, are military police based at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, N.J.
They were treated for hypothermia, said University Hospital spokesman Brian Morris. Police said a NYPD helicopter crew chief was also hospitalized and treated for frostbite. All the injuries were called minor.
Nancy Eldridge, a public affairs officer at NWS Earle, said the sailors, whose names were not released, left the base at 8 p.m. in two 34-foot security boats en route to nearby Atlantic Highlands Marina. "It's pretty routine for us to use the Atlantic Highlands Marina to take the boats out of the water," she said.
The site where the boats were stuck was too shallow for the Coast Guard to assist in the rescue.
Police said members of the NYPD Aviation Unit responded at 9:20 p.m. and conducted the air-sea rescue by lifting the sailors out of the boats and into a helicopter.
During the mission, a NYPD crew chief suffered frostbite when he stuck his head outside of the helicopter to direct the rescue effort, police said.
The boats were left on the ice during the night.