Coast Guard rescues disoriented man from grounded boat near Little Egg Inlet

The Coast Guard came to the rescue of a disoriented mariner who grounded his boat near New Jersey’s Little Egg Inlet on Saturday.

Officials say his daughter contacted the Coast Guard about the emergency, stating that the diabetic man, possibly needing insulin, was near the Golden Nugget Hotel in Atlantic City.

That’s when watchstanders from Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Atlantic City.

Since rescuers were not able to locate the man near the reported spot, the Coast Guard requested assistance with the man’s cell phone company to identify his possible location.

That led the aircrew to find the man on the southern side of the Little Egg Inlet, a major thoroughfare for boat traffic between southern Long Beach Island in Ocean County and Brigantine in Atlantic County.

The man was then hoisted aboard the helicopter and transported to Air Station Atlantic City for evaluation and potential treatment by an awaiting EMS crew. Officials did not release any information about the man’s medical condition.

The notoriously dangerous Little Egg Inlet was recently dredged to create navigable boat channel a mile long and 24-feet below mean sea level.

It’s the third Coast Guard rescue requiring a helicopter hoist off New Jersey in slightly more than a week.

On April 27, a man suffering from an medical emergency was lifted from a cruise ship. Two days later, another ill man was rescued from a fishing boat.