Video: U.S. Coast Guard Medevacs Young Child from Cruise Ship

alt — Jayhawk rescue helicopter (file image courtesy USCG)

On July 7, a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew evacuated a seven-year-old girl who was experiencing abdominal pain from the cruise ship Celebrity Summit. The aircrew met the vessel at a position about 200 miles off the coast of Virginia and hoisted aboard the girl, a parent and a nurse from the cruise ship, then flew them to Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk. The vessel was en route to Bermuda at the time of the illness and radioed the Coast Guard for assistance.

“Good communication between the cruise ship, aircrew and Coast Guard command centers in New York and Portsmouth allowed us to get this child the help she needed,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Kelly Badal, a watchstander in the 5th District Command Center.