VIDEO shows just how much of a challenge it is to medevac someone from a ship in heavy seas.

The footage, taken off the US coast a few years ago, involves the rescue of a crew member of the vessel Horizon Trader via the Coast Guard helicopter.

An aircrew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., medevaced the 47-year-old man from the ship about 200 miles east of the Chesapeake Bay.

Media reports said the Jayhawk crew arrived on scene about 4.30pm local time, hoisted the man into the aircraft and took him to hospital.