Twice in one week, Search and Rescue assets from 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron, based at CFB Comox, airlifted ill or injured personnel from cruise ships sailing off the British Columbia coast.
The first case occurred on September 8 when Victoria’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) dispatched SAR aircraft to evacuate an injured cast member from the cruise ship Disney Wonder, located approximately 182 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy, at the north end of Vancouver Island. An Airbus CC-295 Kingfisher airplane and a Leonardo CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from the RCAF’s 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron were soon on the scene.
Circling above the cruise ship, Kingfisher’s crew provided coordination between the ship’s crew and the Cormorant’s crew. Two SAR Techs descended from the Cormorant onto the deck at the bow of the ship to prepare the patient and accompanying medical staff for transport. They were then hoisted into the helicopter along with the SAR Techs. After flying back to Comox, the patient was transferred to a hospital.
Four days later another medevac on the high seas took place, this time from the Celebrity Solstice, located approximately 200 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy. Again, both a Cormorant and a Kingfisher were dispatched to the scene where a critically ill passenger, a travelling companion and a medical attendant were hoisted aboard then transferred to Comox where an EHS helicopter reportedly transferred the patient to Vancouver.
Click here to see a video, with audio, of the first patient extraction from the Disney Wonder.
Click here to see a video, with audio, of the second patient extraction, from the Celebrity Solstice.
Videos courtesy RCAF 19 Wing Public Affairs.
Be the first to comment