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The U.S. Coast Guard encountered four People’s Republic of China military warships in the Bering Sea over the weekend.The foreign vessels were following international law, and told Coast Guard personnel they were practicing “freedom of navigation operations.”

U.S. Coast Guard Rescue teams from across the state responded to five calls for help over the weekend. Teams operated rescues for fishing vessels, a cruise ship and a stranding.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a crew member from a large container ship Friday, at a rendezvous point near Dutch Harbor. The 48-year-old man was on board the YM Uniformity, a 1,093-foot container ship from Taiwan. The ship was more than a thousand nautical miles southwest of Dutch Harbor when the crew called the Coast Guard to report the crewmember was experiencing chest pain.

Five people were medevaced out of Unalaska Sunday on a Coast Guard C130. “In truth, it wasn't that unique of a situation, except the weather compounded what we deal with on a daily basis,” said Jennifer Heller, interim director of operations and a certified nurse midwife at the island’s Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a man from a fish processing boat north of Cold Bay Monday. The 62-year-old man was hoisted from the 254-foot vessel, Phoenix, after experiencing stroke-like symptoms, according to a USCG news release. Officials at the command center in Juneau received the initial medevac request shortly before 11 a.m. Monday morning.

The nation's only heavy icebreaker reached the southernmost navigable waters on the planet last month, setting a new world record. The nearly 400-foot U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker reached a position of 78 degrees, 44 minutes, 1.32 seconds south latitude off the coast of Antarctica. That’s about 500 yards from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, beating out the current Guinness World Record holder for the southernmost point reached by a ship, according to a USCG statement.

The nation's sole heavy icebreaker arrived in Antarctica on Monday, following a nearly three-month trip from Seattle. The deployment marks the Polar Star’s 25th journey to the earth’s southernmost continent, supporting Operation Deep Freeze – an annual mission to resupply American scientists doing research near the South Pole, according to a Coast Guard statement.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter and its 140 crew members returned to California late last month after a nearly 80-day patrol in the Bering Sea. The 418-foot Waesche — a vessel longer than a football field — traveled more than 12,000 miles since departing Alameda in November. Its patrol spanned the West Coast, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three hunters near Sand Point on Wednesday after the group's boat sank on the southern end of Popof Island.