Three students working with the Canadian Coast Guard for the summer had an early start Wednesday.
The students, members of the inshore rescue boat crew stationed at Port Lambton, were called in the middle of the night to help evacuate an ailing crew member from a commercial ship on the St. Clair River.
A cargo ship had contacted the Canadian Coast Guard for assistance when the crew member started suffering from severe abdominal pain.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton tasked the local crew to the assignment around 3am.
The post-secondary school students set out in a heavy downpour and met the vessel just north of Stag Island.
They assisted the patient from the ship and transported him to Sarnia Bay, where Lambton EMS was waiting to transport him to hospital.
