USCG airlifts injured man off Exxon tanker

The U.S. Coast Guard on Oct. 26 rescued a crewman who suffered serious leg injuries aboard an oil tanker far out in the Gulf of Alaska.

John E. Harmon, first assistant engineer aboard the tanker Sierra, suffered “multiple leg injuries” when a deck plate landed on his legs, the Coast Guard said.

After receiving a call from ship’s captain requesting a medevac, the Coast Guard sent an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter to the tanker located about 284 miles southwest of Sitka and the aircrew hoisted the injured man off the deck at about 7 p.m.

Harmon, 53, was taken to Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka.

The Coast Guard said the Sierra was en route from Richmond, Calif., near San Francisco, to Valdez, terminus of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

The double-hulled tanker, more than 800 feet long, belongs to Houston-based SeaRiver Maritime Inc., which carries Alaska North Slope crude oil for ExxonMobil. The ship’s port of registration is Wilmington, Del.

—Wesley Loy