[Video] Winch Rescue off Volendam Cruise Ship

Published Nov 23, 2014 6:59 PM by The Maritime Executive

The RACQ CareFlight Rescue helicopter has winched an elderly Sydney woman from the Dutch cruise ship Volendam while it was tracking 40 nautical miles east off Rainbow Beach, Australia.

It was reported the woman, aged in her eighties, suffered a medical condition after boarding the ship with her daughter in Sydney on Saturday.

The woman was treated by the ship’s doctor but when her condition worsened last night, the Sunshine Coast based RACQ CareFlight Rescue helicopter was tasked to the northwards-bound ship to leave at first light this morning.

Before 6am, the crew spotted the ship 60 nautical miles north east of their Sunshine Coast base and prepared for a winch rescue.

A Queensland Ambulance Service Flight Intensive Care Paramedic was winched down onto the front of the moving vessel.

The patient was treated, secured in the stretcher and winched aboard the helicopter.

She was airlifted in a stable condition to Nambour General Hospital where a Brisbane-based relative was said to have met her.

One third of all missions RACQ CareFlight Rescue flies are primary missions requiring swift specialist attention.