A Coast Guard helicopter crew was called on Sept. 22 to rescue an ill passenger from a cruise ship off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
A passenger aboard the luxury liner, Norwegian Escape, suffered what appeared to be a stroke on the 1,069-foot-long vessel was sailing about 46 miles off Nantucket Island, near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The Coast Guard crew also picked up a nurse from the cruise ship.
Both were both flown to Rhode Island Hospital.
When It’s Not Cruise Ships, It’s Fishing Boats
When a rescue victim is closer to shore, the Coast Guard will send a boat, instead of a helicopter. That was the case earlier this month when a crewman aboard a scallop-fishing boat fell overboard about 50 miles north of Nantucket, near Cape Cod.The 24-year-old crewman fell overboard around 7 a.m., getting tangled in the fishing gear, but eventually managed to free himself. Other crew members were able to pull him aboard.
In this case, a helicopter was needed in the end. After the EMT made his assessment of the fisherman’s injuries, he determined that the victim needed to be airlifted to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis for further treatment.
Air Station Cape Cod sent an MH-60 Jayhawk chopper crew to make the pickup, transport, and delivery.