Containership Crew Rescues Sailor Lost at Sea for More Than 60 Days

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew lands at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Va., Thursday, April 2, 2015, after medevacing a sailor who had been missing for more than 60 days. U.S. Coast Guard Photo

The crew of a containership helped rescue a man from his disabled sailboat off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina more than 60 days after he was reported missing.

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

A helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina at approximately 3:40 p.m to meet the Houston Express. Once on scene they hoisted the man and transported him Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.

The man, 37-year-old Louis Jordan and the sailing vessel Angel were initially reported missing by his family on January 29, exactly 63 days ago.

In a phone call with the ship’s Captain, Frank Jordan, Louis’ father, thanked him and the crew for rescuing his son and for “the system we have in place”.

The Coast Guard will conduct a debrief with Jordan.

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