Coast Guard Helicopter Evacuates Four Sick Crew From Tanker Off Vieques

A U.S. Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter hoisted four crew members off a Cyprus-flagged oil tanker on Sunday, after the vessel's master reported suspected food poisoning that had incapacitated nearly an entire watch's worth of mariners.

The 328-foot tanker Daibelli was sitting approximately one nautical mile south of Vieques, Puerto Rico, when the airlift took place. The helicopter came from Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, and the operation ran under the command of Coast Guard Sector San Juan.

How did the rescue unfold?

The timeline began late Saturday night, when the Daibelli's master contacted Coast Guard Rescue Sub-Center San Juan and reported that four crew members were showing symptoms consistent with food poisoning. By Sunday, the decision had been made to evacuate all four rather than treat them aboard.

The hoist itself was not routine. The Coast Guard described the tanker as a challenging environment for a helicopter evacuation — a meaningful detail, since hoisting stretcher-bound or weakened mariners from a tanker's deck, with its masts, piping and limited clear deck space, ranks among the more demanding missions a rotary-wing crew performs.

"The vessel presented a challenging hoisting environment, but through excellent crew resource management, teamwork, and adaptability, we were able to identify the safest and most effective location to conduct the hoists," said Lt. Stan Raymond, the helicopter's co-pilot.

"I'm grateful our crew was able to safely evacuate all four mariners and get them to a higher level of medical care," Raymond added.

All four mariners were flown to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, where emergency medical personnel met the aircraft. From there, the patients went to Carolina Regional Hospital for treatment.

Who coordinated the operation?

The Coast Guard did not run the medevac alone. The agency credited inter-agency coordination for the outcome, listing support from:

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• The U.S. Public Health Service
• Puerto Rico Emergency Medical Services
• Carolina Regional Hospital

That cluster of agencies reflects a standard but resource-intensive response: a suspected foodborne illness on a foreign-flagged tanker touches immigration, public health and local emergency medicine simultaneously, not just aviation rescue.

What is still unknown?

The Coast Guard released no details on the mariners' conditions after hospital admission, and no information on the suspected source of the illness — whether contaminated food, water or something else aboard the Daibelli. Whether the tanker continued its voyage short-handed, and where it was bound, also went unstated. For now, the four crew members' recoveries and the investigation into what sickened them — if one is opened — remain the open questions carriers and operators in the region will watch.

The incident is a reminder that for tanker crews transiting the Caribbean corridor near Puerto Rico, the nearest higher-level medical care is often a helicopter ride away — and that the Coast Guard's San Juan-based aviation assets remain the mechanism that closes that gap.