Coast Guard Airlifts Ailing Man From Cruise Ship
BOSTON (CBS) — The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted a man with renal and heart failure symptoms from a cruise ship Saturday afternoon about 180 miles south of Nantucket.
Watchstanders were called at 12 p.m. about a 39-year-old man who needed medical attention while aboard the 992-foot Bermuda-flagged Cunard-Line Queen Mary II.
Emergency officials determined that it was necessary to have a MH-60 Jayhawk fly in from Air Station Cape Cod to evacuate the man.
The cruise ship moved closer to Nantucket to help reduce the distance between the helicopter and the ship.
The man was lifted at 3 p.m. and taken to Tuft's Medical Center.
"Working together with the cruise ship and their medical staff made all the difference in getting this man care as soon as possible," said Petty Officer Nichole Cook, the operations unit coordinator at the 1st Coast Guard District in Boston, in a press statement.
"They had a nurse from the ship accompany our rescue crews to provide medical support on the way."