Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 17

RCAF Airlifts 1 Passenger From Celebrity Solstice Near Alaska After Medical Emergency

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 17

RCAF Airlifts 1 Passenger From Celebrity Solstice Near Alaska After Medical Emergency

Q: What severe medical emergency forced a military helicopter to extract a passenger from a cruise ship miles from civilization?

It has not been disclosed. Officials and Celebrity Cruises said only that the passenger suffered a serious medical emergency requiring care beyond what the ship could provide onboard. What is known is that the Celebrity Solstice was sailing off British Columbia on its Alaska itinerary, about 107 nautical miles northwest of Port Hardy, when the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria ordered a military medevac. The Royal Canadian Air Force sent a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-295 Kingfisher aircraft. Rescue technicians were lowered onto the ship, stabilized and prepared the patient, and then hoisted the passenger, along with a companion and medical personnel, to the helicopter for transport to Comox and onward hospital care. The lack of detail about the illness is typical in such cases because medical privacy rules limit what operators and authorities can release. The episode does, however, illustrate a broader point experts emphasize: cruise ships can handle many urgent problems, but severe cases in remote waters may require helicopter evacuation, diversion to port, or transfer to shore-based hospitals. Travel advisers say this is why passengers, especially those with pre-existing conditions, should carry travel insurance that includes emergency medical treatment, evacuation, hospitalization and repatriation.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 17

A passenger aboard Celebrity Solstice was airlifted to shore for hospital care after suffering a medical emergency during an Alaska voyage near Canada.
An RCAF helicopter and rescue team responded to the ship, lowering search-and-rescue technicians onto the vessel to carry out the evacuation.
Celebrity Cruises' parent, Royal Caribbean Group, said it facilitated the guest's medical disembarkation because additional care was needed.
Lynn Elmhirst, host of "World's Greatest Cruises," said evacuations are harder along the remote Vancouver-to-Alaska coastline, where major cities and hospitals are sparse.
Elmhirst said the incident underscores the need for travel insurance that covers evacuation and repatriation, plus carrying a passport and checking fitness to travel with a doctor.