Coast Guard Medevacs Sailor After 66 Days at Sea

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevacs a man from motor vessel Houston Express off the North Carolina coast Thursday, April 2, 2015. The crew aboard Houston Express spotted the man on a disabled sailing vessel and took him aboard approximately 200 miles east of Cape Hatteras. U.S. Coast Guard video by Air Station Elizabeth City

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard medevaced a man who was located on a disabled sailing vessel Thursday approximately 200 miles off the North Carolina coast.

Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth received notification from the 1,085-foot, German-flagged motor vessel Houston Express at approximately 1:30 p.m., indicating they spotted a man and the vessel approximately 200 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and took him aboard.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, at approximately 3:40 p.m. The helicopter crew met the Houston Express, hoisted the man and transported him to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, arriving at approximately 7:30 p.m.

The man, 37-year-old Louis Jordan and the sailing vessel Angel, were initially reported missing by his family to the Coast Guard Jan. 29.

Jordon reportedly survived by catching small fish with his hands, and drank rain water.

For previous releases containing visual imagery of the medevac, Jordan’s arrival at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, and audio of Jordan’s initial contact with his father, please visit: http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2156546/5th-District-Mid-Atlantic .