Firefighters Rescue Man Working On Sailboat In Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A man who collapsed while working on a sailboat was rescued with a bit of ingenuity from Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Fire Department teams. Rescuers say the man had trouble breathing and the air quality on the boat was monitored by a Hazmat team to make sure it was safe for fire and EMS crews. There is no word on whether the victim was overcome by fumes or gasses.

Fire crews were called just after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to the 7300 block of Edgewood Road on a report that an unconscious man was laying in the bottom of a vessel. The patient is a man between 40 and 50 years old; he was found laying in the bottom of the vessel with ineffective breathing, Annapolis Fire spokesman Ken White said in a release.

The man was working on the vessel this morning; it is unknown what caused him to lose consciousness. Paramedics boarded the vessel and stabilized the patient until a rescue system was constructed.

Fire and EMS crews built a rescue system using ropes and pulley systems, along with a ladder truck, to haul the patient out of the vessel and onto a stretcher. He was then taken to a local hospital in stable condition; the man's name has not been released.

There were no other reported injuries at the scene.

Photos of rescue courtesy of Annapolis Fire Department