The Coast Guard rescued a boater Saturday whose vessel capsized in Lake Pontchartrain.
The Coast Guard found James McGhee stranded on a jetty in Slidell after he had swum away from his vessel. A Coast Guard aircrew lifted him onto a helicopter and transferred him to University Medical Center, where he was treated for symptoms of shock and hypothermia.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a distress call around 2 a.m. from McGhee who said that his vessel was taking on water in Lake Pontchartrain between the Highway 90 bridge and the I-10 Twin Span.
“Mr. McGhee’s access to a VHF radio saved his life,” said Cmdr. Brook Serbu, search and rescue mission coordinator at Sector New Orleans. “It is important that all mariners have access to a communication device in case of emergency, and
preferably more than one such as a radio and cell phone.”
