Medivac at sea

Well. An unusual event to witness. One of the passengers has had to be evacuated to a shoreside hospital for treatment – still not clear what the issue was but the process to accomplish the evacuation was very well done.

To start with, we are a small ship  (as cruise ships go) so there is no helipad or place to land so, in the first instance the passenger had to be stabilized – recall there was a request for blood donors. Then a rendezvous had to be established with the Coast Guard. The open decks were cleared of lines and standing poles etc and we were all banished to lower decks. Then the heli came in, hovered over the prepared deck and lowered a medic and a basket – the patient was strapped into the basket then the heli which was orbiting the ship came in, hooked up and winched the basket with the patient up, then snagged the medic and then was off.

The pics show the scene on the fifth deck – people watching the action, the evening at sea and a quick shot of the heli passing by – no flash photos were allowed

While all this was happening there was a second heli buzzing around – maybe a news copter? If you have the time can you check out for any reports in the Western Australia media? Or Princess.com facebook.Maybe near a town called Canarvon