A man in urgent need of medical care was rescued by the Portuguese Air Force while aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Porto Santo, Madeira, on Wednesday.
In a statement released Thursday, the Air Force reported rescuing a patient in urgent need of medical attention who was aboard the passenger ship Queen Anne.
The ship was sailing more than 210 kilometers from Porto Santo when the victim was safely rescued and transported to the Air Force helicopter, where initial medical care was administered.
The man was then transported to Funchal and received by a unit of the Rapid Medical Intervention Team, which accompanied him to a hospital facility.
According to the Air Force, the rescue operation utilized an EH-101 Merlin helicopter from Squadron 751 – Pumas, which took off from Aeródromo de Manobra No. 3 in Porto Santo after the Lisbon Rescue Coordination Center (RCC – Lisbon) received the alert.
The operation, conducted in coordination with the Portuguese Navy, lasted a total of three hours and 30 minutes of flight time.
“In the last ten days, this is already the third rescue operation performed on a ship by the Air Force, once again demonstrating the readiness and successful response capacity to the most demanding missions,” the branch of the Armed Forces highlighted.
