The U.S. Coast Guard rescued an 81-year-old passenger on a Windstar Cruises ship north of Puerto Rico on Monday, October 26, according to a press release by the Coast Guard.
The elderly passenger was traveling on an 8-night voyage from Boston to San Juan on the Star Pride when he experienced a medical emergency. The Coast Guard was initially contacted about the medical emergency on Saturday around 5:00 p.m. while the ship was 900 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico.
The Coast Guard monitored the medical situation over the next two days and ultimately dispatched an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew on Monday at 3:00 p.m. to rescue the man. Ship tracking data shows the Star Pride changing course at 4:00 p.m., sailing northeast, before turning southeast at roughly 4:30 p.m.
The rescue operation took place approximately 150 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard executed a “precision hoist operation” to lift the man and a ship nurse from the Star Pride. The man was then transported to Centro Médico in San Juan for more advanced medical care that the ship could not provide.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Scott Verhage said about the incident, “Air Station Borinquen and Sector San Juan train relentlessly to mitigate the risks associated with demanding Coast Guard missions like long-range medical evacuations. Our ultimate goal is to execute safe, highly efficient operations within a dynamic and unforgiving maritime environment.”
The Coast Guard released a video of the rescue operation that shows the nurse and then the man being lifted from the Star Pride into the Coast Guard’s helicopter. The video can be seen below.
We last wrote about a Coast Guard rescue operation in September, when a 32-year-old crew member was rescued from the Allure of the Seas after experiencing severe, chronic abdominal pain. The crew member was medically evacuated from the ship while it was 50 nautical miles northwest of Puerto Rico.
Cruise ship medical evacuations highlight the shortcomings of the medical care on cruise ships and the dangers of being hundreds if not thousands of miles from a land-based hospital.
Image Credit: Coast Guard rescue video – U.S. Coast Guard / Ricardo Castrodad; Star Pride – Wikimedia Commons / Wolfgang Fricke
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