Coast Guard medically evacuates passenger aboard Celebrity Apex
FORT LAUDERDALE - The U.S. Coast Guard medically evacuated a passenger aboard the Celebrity Apex cruise ship that left Port Everglades earlier in the week and was about 130 miles off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The patient was a 64-year-old woman, who is a U.S. citizen, experiencing an abdominal medical emergency, which required a higher level of medical care Monday.
The Coast Guard at Sector San Juan received a communication in the morning requesting assistance.
The Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter approached cruise ship. A Coast Guard aircrew deployed their rescue swimmer to go aboard the cruise ship, who used a rescue basket to hoist the patient, her spouse and the cruise ship nurse aboard the aircraft.
The Coast Guard aircrew took the patient to the Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico where she then went to Puerto Rico Medical Center.
"Thanks to the outstanding coordination between Sector San Juan, the crew of the Celebrity Apex and our team at Air Station Borinquen, we were able to safely conduct the hoist and transport of three individuals from the cruise ship," Lt. William Boardman, Air Station Borinquen MH-60T aircraft commander for the case, said. "The patient was successfully transferred to EMS and transported to a higher level of care, and I'm proud of the professionalism displayed throughout the mission."
Cruise Hive posted video from passengers.
The seven-day cruise departed from Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. Its first stop was in St. Kitts on Tuesday morning.
Celebrity Cruises is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group.
The Apex with maximum capacity of 3,385 first set sail in fall 2020.