Cruise Ship Medical Evacuation At Sea

[stowaway2k]

An ill or injured passenger in a stretcher is evacuated onto a US Coast Guard boat.

The cruise ship made a detour and stopped about five miles off the coast of San Diego, California for the evacuation.

 

[Captaintandem]

Great video, as always. The transfer is amazing. Thanks so much for sharing, Kyle.

[megr1125]

that was interesting to see....and how quick once they finally got close enough....thanks for sharing.....

[LHT28]

You think they would have had a rope from the boat to a crew member to hold the boat closer.

 

Hope the person was OK

[megr1125]

You think they would have had a rope from the boat to a crew member to hold the boat closer.

 

Hope the person was OK

 

 

I was thinking the same thing too about the rope....

 

any news on the pax???

[Ask4Jay]

Good video, but embarrassing to watch. Were these really active-duty Coast Guard personnel or Keystone Cops? The boat was all over the place, instead of being controlled by at least one line. I hope the evacuee was not awake, or he/she would have had a heart attack.

[gypsyrose]

Good video, but embarrassing to watch. Were these really active-duty Coast Guard personnel or Keystone Cops? The boat was all over the place, instead of being controlled by at least one line. I hope the evacuee was not awake, or he/she would have had a heart attack.

 

I was thinking the same thing or thinking that they would drop the person in the water. Scarey.....

[FireChiefcruiser]

Is it just me or did the sick passenger have on some type of personal flotation device (life jacket)? It would totally suck if they dropped him into the ocean, especially since he is already sick enough to be removed from the ship. Trying not to be critical, just makes me say "hummmm".

 

Otherwise, very interesting video

[love2relax]

I was on that cruise. It was the 08/20/07 sailing of the Carnival Paradise. We were on the way back from Ensenada on our sea day. We were originally told that the ship would dock in San Diego, but that only the ill passenger and his family were going to get off. Then when we got closer to San Diego, the Coast Guard came out and met us f(or what we thought would be an escort until the ship virtually came to a stop). I am not sure if the patient was wearing a life jacket, but the other family members definitely were. I heard that he had a heart attack, and that the ship's medical personnel felt that it would be better to get him medical attention rather than wait until the arrival next morning in Long Beach. I have often wondered whatever happened. What a terrible way to end a vacation. I agree with the other posters. I am amazed at how smooth they can transfer you to a tender, and you would think we were in high seas the way that boat was bobbing around in the water!

[ruddenp]

There are probably good reasons it took so long and they did not tie onto the ship. The boat has rubber sponsons that can puncture if they get caught in the gangway structure which would make the rescuers, rescuees. The boat had to stand off and wait for each person and piece of luggage to be brought down and loaded but could not stay right alongside for the same reason above.

 

That type of boat is designed to be fast and seaworthy in moderate seas but no so good for manouevering alongside a large ship, it looks like the crew and cox'n did a very good job of loading all the people and their luggage without incident.

[prc]

That USCG craft was a 33' response boat. It is a larger version of the standard 25' RB-S (Response Boat-Security). The boat is aluminum with a hard foam collar (the orange part) that will keep it afloat even if the aluminum hull is breached. They are made by Safe-Boats international. the 33' version has three outboard engines while the the 25' has 2. Both have 2 .50 caliber machine gun mounts, and both are primarily used for port security, law enforcement, and drug interdiction, not SAR (search & rescue) 5 miles offshore.

 

One thing my son, who is the Coxwain (driver) on one of the 25' versions learned is that you never ever ever tie off to something that much larger than you...EVER. The boat is not a tender, which is designed to control and direct its thrust to keep contact. You are much better off trusting in the skills of the Coxwain, even if it's not pretty, than trusting a rope.