A tugboat worker suffered internal injuries when he fell off the boat and was pinned between the tug and a barge in the Hudson River near the Jersey City/Bayonne border last Tuesday night, officials said. The tug worker, who was not identified pending notification of his family, was hitching the tug to a stationary barge at about 10 p.m., when he slipped, fell between the vessels and became wedged, Fire Capt. Andrew Johnson said. The tug's crew quickly contacted the Jersey City Fire Department and firefighters responded to the pier at the end of Linden Avenue, Johnson said.
A second tug boat picked up eight firefighters, two emergency medical technicians and two paramedics and ferried them to where the man was trapped, Johnson said. He said the pinned man was conscious through the ordeal and screaming in extreme pain.
But despite the man's obvious pain, rescuers had to extricate him cautiously - there was a danger that, when the boats were separated, he could die when the blood immediately rushed back into his legs, causing his blood pressure to drop dangerously low.
