“Deadliest Catch” star Sig Hansen suffered a heart attack during filming of the Discovery Channel series early Wednesday morning.
Hansen was on the deck of his ship, the Northwestern, when he collapsed and briefly fell unconscious with the cameras rolling, according to TMZ.
Hansen regained consciousness and wanted to continue fishing for crab, but crew members convinced him to seek medical attention. He was then airlifted to a local hospital.
Hansen’s daughter posted a picture on Instagram (later removed) of herself, her father and her mother at the hospital where Hansen is recovering. The caption read, “Capt survived the ‘widowmaker’ !! Beating a heart attack ain’t easy. Welcome back boss.”
“Deadliest Catch” premiered on Discovery in 2002, with Hansen serving as a star and technical adviser on the show since it began.
Back in August, Tony Lara, another captain who had appeared on the show, died of an apparent heart attack while attending the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. He was 50.
Lara was a crabbing veteran who joined the cast of “Deadliest Catch” several years ago, following the 2010 death of Phil Harris, who died of a stroke at age 53.
Like Harris, Lara served as captain of the Cornelia Marie, working with Phil’s son Josh in commercial crab fishing out of Kodiak, Alaska.