Coast Guard Medevacs Man from Cruise Ship Off Oregon Inlet
The Coast Guard medevaced an ailing man from a cruise ship about 55 miles off Oregon Inlet Monday..
Watchstanders in the 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth received a call from the 958-foot, Nassau, Bahamas-flagged Norwegian Dawn at about 6:15 a.m., requesting a medevac for a 56-year-old male passenger experiencing stroke-like symptoms.
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and arrived at the cruise ship about 55 miles east of Oregon Inlet.
The crew hoisted the patient, along with his fiance and a nurse, and brought them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk.
“This was our second medevac from this cruise ship in the past two weeks,” said Chief Petty Officer Shannon Brugh, aviation survival technician for the case. “We conducted three hoists in some very challenging winds today. It was a beautiful example of teamwork, coordination and communication among Coast Guard units several hundred miles apart and the crew of the cruise ship to make this happen.”
