{"id":20194,"date":"2018-11-27T21:14:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T21:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/27\/coast-guard-rescues-two-severely-burned-crewmen-off-cruise-liner\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:08:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:08:31","slug":"coast-guard-rescues-two-severely-burned-crewmen-off-cruise-liner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/11\/27\/coast-guard-rescues-two-severely-burned-crewmen-off-cruise-liner\/","title":{"rendered":"Coast Guard rescues two severely burned crewmen off cruise liner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Coast Guard rescued two crew members severely burned in a Monday afternoon during an engine room accident onboard the Norwegian Escape while the cruise liner sailed off the coast of North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we know is that there appeared to be an accident in the engine room,\u201d said Public Affairs Specialist 3rd Class Ronald Hodges, a Coast Guard spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the vessel was more than 12 nautical miles offshore of the United States and the two victims were from the Philippines serving onboard a Bahamas-flagged vessel, the Coast Guard is unlikely to probe the incident, Hodges added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, the Coast Guard said that the injuries appeared to have been caused by a steam pipe that burst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coast Guard watchstanders at the Fifth District command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, were contacted Monday at 3:50 p.m. by the Norwegian Escape that the two crewmen, 25 and 26 years of age, needed emergency medical attention for second-degree burns<\/a>, officials say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coast Guard scrambled a Jayhawk MH-60T rescue helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to fly 24 miles east to the cruise ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hovering over the vessel, the crew hoisted up the two victims, accompanied by a ship doctor, and transported them to the Rocky Mount-Wilson Regional Airport in Nash County, North Carolina. There, they were handed off to paramedics who rushed them to a local hospital with burns over about 50 percent of their bodies, according to the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur crews train for a wide range of situations, so when we are contacted we are prepared to get people the help they need in a timely fashion,” said Thomas A. Botzenhart, Fifth District search and rescue coordinator, in a statement emailed to Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\t