Four passengers in medical distress were evacuated by U.S. Coast Guard helicopters based in San Diego from three different cruise ships during a 24-hour period this weekend.
The rescues began at 7:10 p.m. Friday, when a woman suffering from a progressive acute illness was hoisted off the cruise ship Carnival Panorama, officials said.
The Coast Guard 11th District Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda received a medevac request from the captain of the cruise ship, which at that time was 165 miles south of San Diego.
The vessel and an MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew from Coast Guard Sector San Diego rendezvoused 100 miles south of the city. The woman, 47, was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego in serious condition.
Later that evening the Coast Guard received reports of a 74-year-old woman suffering from stroke-like symptoms and a 77-year-old woman suffering from kidney failure, both on the cruise ship Majestic Princess.
At the time of the request, the cruise ship was about 500 miles west of Los Angeles. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew met the ship about 10 a.m. Saturday 150 miles southwest of Point Conception. Both patients were transferred to Scripps Memorial.
At 12:20 p.m. Saturday, another woman with stroke-like symptoms was hoisted off the cruise ship Carnival Spirit, about 86 miles west of San Clemente Island.
Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Long Beach notified Joint Harbor Operations Center San Diego of the medevac request from the Carnival ship. The helicopter crew that was completing the rescue of the two passengers from the Majestic Princess was diverted to respond to the Carnival Spirit.
The woman, 84, was transported for emergency medical services at Coast Guard Sector San Diego.
The Coast Guard Rescue 6019 aircrew flew more than seven hours between the three medical evacuations on Friday and Saturday.
– City News Service