AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) along with other federal, state and local partners continue making complex rescue operations within devastated areas of the British and United States Virgin Islands.
Coordination between several agencies, including AMO, continues to be a lifeline to what is an international effort for victims in need of assistance.
to rappel down into the British Virgin
Islands to assist Irma victims.
“AMO crews are dedicated to working around-the-clock to provide immediate air rescue assistance to victims of Irma,” said Johnny Morales, Director of Air Operations. “We are performing everything from hoisting trapped residents out of harm’s way, to delivering lifesaving blood and other critical supplies to those in need.”
On Sept. 7, a critically injured woman was rescued by the AMO UH-60 Black Hawk aircrew out of Jost Van Dyke Island, British Virgin Islands. (Video of the rescue operation is available at https://dvidshub.net/r/tsm4z6 )
Many individuals have been hoisted and transported to neighboring San Juan, Puerto Rico.
AMO’s advanced capabilities and skill sets in the air and maritime environments fall within our core competencies: interdiction, investigation, domain awareness, and contingency operations and national tasking missions. AMO performs a wide range of incident-based missions in response to state and federal emergencies, such as disaster relief, continuity of operations, humanitarian operations, search and rescue, tactical team insertions and logistics, and National Special Security Events. Imagery of AMO storm relief efforts can be located on this DVIDS.
More images and video of the CBP Hurricane Irma response effort please visit:
- CBP Flickr Collection Page - https://www.flickr.com/photos/me/collections/72157684917663412/
- CBP DVIDS Feature page - https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/cbpirma
More updates are available on Twitter: Follow us @CBPCaribbean.