Helicopter air ambulance sent to pick up stabbing victim catches fire en route

A Miami man was stabbed Friday morning in Islamorada, and the helicopter air ambulance sent from Marathon to take the victim to a mainland hospital caught fire before landing on an Upper Keys soccer field to pick him up.

Deputy Becky Herrin, media relations officer with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, said Sergio Rivero, 30, from Miami, was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as Manuel Lopez, 43, also of Miami.

The stabbing happened a little after 6 a.m. at the La Siesta Resort, mile marker 80.2, where both Rivero and Lopez were working a construction job. They reportedly got into an argument that turned violent.

Islamorada Fire Rescue medics responded to the incident. Chief Terry Abel said he’s not sure about Lopez’s condition, but his crew opted to “err on the side of caution” and have the patient airlifted.

“He got poked with a knife in the torso,” Abel said. “We don’t know what kind of knife and we don’t know how deep.”

The helicopter is one of Monroe County’s three Trauma Star air ambulances and the oldest in the fleet, said county communications officer Cammy Clark.

The chopper landed safely at Coral Shores High School at mile marker 89.9 on Plantation Key around 7 a.m., Clark said, but other arrangements had to be made to transport the patient to Miami. The patient was taken to Mariners Hospital, mile marker 91.5 in Tavernier, and a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helicopter flew in to take the victim to the mainland.

The aircraft that caught fire is 35 years old and is used as a backup to the other two aircraft in the fleet, Clark said. It was used Friday because one of the other choppers was undergoing routine maintenance, Clark said. The older Trauma Star had just finished its complete annual maintenance required by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the county.

The fire will be investigated by both the FAA and the county’s Trauma Star aviation division.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Helicopter air ambulance sent to pick up stabbing victim catches fire en route."