Maryland State Police Helicopter Rescues Boater After Medical Emergency in Somerset County Marsh
Somerset County, MD - A Maryland State Police helicopter crew pulled a boater to safety Friday afternoon after the man suffered a medical emergency in one of the most remote stretches of Somerset County's waterway.
The call came in just after 1:30 p.m. on April 17, 2025. Somerset County rescue personnel were sent to Dames Quarter Lake, where a boater had grounded his vessel and was in medical distress.
Getting to him was the problem.
The area east of Deal Island is shallow marsh, and not the kind of place a boat or ground crew can easily reach. When a Maryland Natural Resources Police officer located the man and assessed the scene, it was clear a standard water or land rescue wasn't going to work.
The United States Coast Guard requested aerial assistance. Maryland State Police Aviation Command answered, dispatching Trooper 4, the MSP helicopter stationed in Salisbury, Maryland, to the scene.
A Trooper/Paramedic was lowered by hoist onto a patch of solid ground in the marsh. He assessed the patient and got him ready for aerial extraction using an ARV-QC rescue device.
Trooper 4 hovered roughly 70 feet above the marsh and hoisted the man up into the aircraft. From there, the crew shifted immediately into medical evacuation mode and flew the patient to a local hospital.
The crew flew an AgustaWestland AW-139 helicopter, the same aircraft used across the Maryland State Police Aviation Command's fleet of 10 helicopters operating from seven bases around the state.
The MSPAC has been running these kinds of missions since 1970. The agency provides round-the-clock coverage across Maryland, handling everything from medevac flights and search and rescue to law enforcement support and disaster response.
Friday's rescue is a good example of how those missions actually get done. It took Somerset County rescue teams, a Maryland Natural Resources Police officer, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the MSP aviation crew all working together to bring one man home safely.
No further information on the patient's condition has been released.
