An elderly passenger has been medevaced from Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas ship off the coast of Exmouth on Wednesday, October 24.
The 74-year-old woman has been winched aboard Bristow Helicopters rescue flight and immediately taken for emergency surgery to Port Hedland hospital, accompanied by her husband.
The rescue was coordinated by Australian Maritime Safety Authority and involved Bristow search & rescue technical crew manager Gordon Watt. He flew from Perth in order to oversee the specialist operation which involved more than fifteen Bristow personnel including radio control in Karratha, engineering ground crew in Exmouth, and 5 aboard the aircraft.
In the air the operation was supported by AMSA Challenger jet.
The passenger was successfully winched by stretcher, off the deck of the ship, which was 48 kilometers off the coast of Exmouth.
At the time of accident, Ovation of the Seas was sailing from Singapore to Sydney. On Friday, October 25, the ship docked at Fremantle, Perth, Western Australia.
For other Ovation of the Seas accidents and incidents see at the ship's CruiseMinus page.