Fisherman Accidentally Impaled by Spear on Boat off Ocean City Coast

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A fisherman is in critical condition tonight after he was shot in the head and impaled by a spear fired by a speargun.

Petty Officer 3rd-Class Shannon Kearney, Coast Guard spokeswoman, says the accident happened on board a 25-foot cabin cruiser about 35 nautical miles off the Ocean City coast and was reported just before 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Coast Guard launched rescue vessels from Ocean City and Indian River and a helicopter from Atlantic City.  The helicopter crew responded to rendezvous with the cabin cruiser.

Once on scene, a rescue swimmer was lowered from the helicopter to assist with treatment.  They brought the patient to Coast Guard Station Ocean City.  That is where a Maryland State Police helicopter landed and flew the man to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

Around 6:15 p.m., the trauma center requested a rescue squad from the Baltimore City Fire Department to assist with removing the spear.

Please stay with WGMD and WGMD.com for further updates.


 

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