A stranded spear fisher was rescued from dangerous waters in the US Virgin Islands on Sunday, when the US Coast Guard performed an extraordinary rescue in the midst of Tropical Storm Earl.
The fisher, a 50-year-old guy, was hurt and clinging onto rocks near Dog Island as six-foot waves crashed around him, according to a Coast Guard news release. According to the agency, he sailed a 26-foot boat to the area early Sunday and later transmitted a distress signal to a buddy, who communicated it to an emergency dispatch operator in St. Thomas around 8:30 a.m.
The Coast Guard said that rescue teams arrived on the area via boat and aircraft. The boat crew attempted to reel in the fisher with a strong line at first, but was unable to do so because storm waves stopped the vessel from reaching him. A helicopter then flew overhead as a swimmer dropped to the rocks to save the injured fisher, and both were eventually rescued by a harness that hauled them back up to the plane.
The Coast Guard tweeted a video of the rescue over the weekend, dubbing it a “amazing” rescue.
#Impressive Watch this video of an MH-60T Jayhawk aircrew saving a spear fisherman in trouble at Dog Island, #USVirginIslands, as filmed by the responding @USCG rescue boat crew! #BravoZulu
@govhouseusvi and @USVInews
More information here: https://t.co/J5ITSW33v1 pic.twitter.com/eMzV1klBPV
September 5, 2022 — USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast)
According to the Associated Press, Tropical Storm Earl poured torrential rain over the northeastern Caribbean on Sunday, affecting Puerto Rico as well as the Leeward Islands, US Virgin Islands, and British Virgin Islands. On Sunday, two persons on jet skis were murdered in Puerto Rico when lightning struck the lake during a storm.
Earl is expected to get more intense this week after moving north from St. Thomas on Monday with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. The National Hurricane Center described Earl as “a little disheveled” in an advisory issued Tuesday morning, warning that the storm is projected to intensify into a hurricane over the following few days.