Coast guard airlifts hunter after medical distress on remote area of B.C.

COMOX, B.C. – The coast guard says it’s not clear what the condition is of a hunter airlifted off a remote inlet of Vancouver Island.

The Royal Canadian Air Force received a call late Friday night that a hunter was in possible medical distress on a remote inlet on northwestern Vancouver Island.

A Cormorant helicopter was dispatched, flying through snow showers and limited visibility to arrive in the area shortly after midnight Saturday morning.

Captain Jeff Barth, the pilot of the helicopter, says in a news release that search-and-rescue technicians used their night-vision goggles to spot the hunting party’s fire.

The hunter was hoisted into the helicopter and flown to Port Hardy, where he was taken by ambulance to hospital.

The news release does not specify the nature of the medical issue that prompted the medevac, and it says the hunter’s condition isn’t known.