Man falls from deck on Midway Museum, prompting rescue

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A 71-year-old volunteer worker at the USS Midway
Museum plunged from one deck of the retired aircraft carrier to another today
and became wedged in a hatch, necessitating a 45-minute rescue effort to free
him.

The man took the fall shortly after 8 a.m. aboard the retired warship
docked in the Embarcadero waterfront area, according to the San Diego Fire-
Rescue Department.

The accident left the victim stuck “essentially in a hole,” requiring
emergency personnel to carefully hoist him out, load him in a gurney and carry
him up to the top deck of the 68-year-old vessel, SDFRD spokesman Lee Swanson
said.

An ambulance crew then took him to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest for
treatment of injuries of undetermined severity.