Coast Guardsman rappels from chopper to rescue passenger from Hawaii cruise ship: video
Dramatic video captures the moment a US Coast Guard chopper crew pulls an ailing cruise ship passenger off the deck of boat 70 miles off the coast of Hawaii — one of two rescues hours apart.
The 29-year-old woman, who was suffering from appendicitis symptoms, was examined aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship on Monday evening, with medical staff recommending that she be medevacked from the ship, the Coast Guard said in a press release.
Shortly after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter rendezvoused with the ship about 70 miles east of Kaneohe in Hawaii, and hoisted the patient onto the chopper.
The woman, who was not identified, was taken to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, where she was listed in stable condition, the Coast Guard said.
The high-flying heroics came just a few hours after a separate Coast Guard chopper pulled a 39-year-old male man who had just suffered a strke off an oil tanker near California.
In that case, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched from San Diego to the Polaris Voyager tanker nearly 30 miles off the coast of Oceanside shortly after noon on Tuesday.
Dramatic footage shows the patient being pulled onto the chopper on a stretcher.
The man was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and listed in stable condition.
