A 69-year-old woman suffering abdominal pains was winched off a cruise ship by the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter off the coast of Ballina yesterday and airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital for further treatment.
The ship Sea Princess changed course and came closer to the coastline to be in the helicopter’s range of around 60 kilometres.
Australian Search and Rescue tasked the helicopter to the spot, east of Ballina 60 nautical miles off the coast.
The woman was stabilised by paramedics on board before being winched aboard the helicopter.
She was reported to be in a stable condition.
Listened to ABC interview with crewman this morning. Seems helicopter medivac is not that uncommon from cruise ships. Winching of crew and patient is much riskier than landing on ships helicopter pad. So whyare cruise ships of this size not required to have a suitable helipad? With the number of pax and other possible emergencies this should compulsory.