Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes, they have wings.
Or, at least helicopter blades that fly, as was the case when rescuers from Northern California’s Coast Guard responded to an emergency call from a Princess Cruises ship on September 24, 2024.
An 8-year-old boy diagnosed with appendicitis was medically evacuated from the 142,229-gross-ton Royal Princess in a dramatic scene captured on camera roughly 20 miles west of Eureka, California.
The Coast Guard helicopter crew successfully airlifted the boy, along with his family, to a hospital in Eureka, where he underwent emergency surgery.
The boy had been on a 13-night cruise from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Hawaii with his mother and brother when he began feeling ill on the second day of the trip.
After being evaluated by the ship’s doctor, it was determined that Daniel had appendicitis and required immediate medical attention.
“The doctor in the cruise said the situation is very [much an] emergency,” Nicole Jiang shared with Good Morning America (GMA). “Daniel got [a] very high fever, and the situation [grew] worse.”
The rescue operation, which took place around 8 a.m. and involved an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay, was particularly challenging due to heavy fog, said Lt. Katherine McDonnell, the helicopter pilot.
“From 10 miles out, flying at like 300 or 400 feet, we should be able to see [the ship], and we couldn’t,” she told GMA.
McDonnell successfully guided the crew to the ship’s location despite the poor visibility.
Once on the scene, aviation survival technician Philip Morie rappelled down to the deck of the 3,560-passenger Royal Princess to secure the boy in a rescue basket. Morie then returned to retrieve his mother and brother.
A Happy Ending for All Passengers
The boy was transferred by helicopter to Saint Joseph Hospital in Eureka by 9:40 a.m., where doctors performed an emergency appendectomy. His surgery was successful, and he is expected to fully recover.
The Royal Princess, which had called in Victoria, British Colombia, on September 22, was on a second sea day when the rescue occurred.
The vessel resumed its journey after the medevac, continuing along the California coast with its next scheduled stop in San Francisco on September 25.
The cruise ship is currently at sea en route to a call in San Diego and will visit Los Angeles before heading into the Pacific and concluding in Honolulu, Hawaii, on October 4, 2024.
Like most large cruise ships, Royal Princess is equipped with a fully staffed medical facility and staff trained to handle a range of medical issues, from minor illnesses like colds and seasickness to more urgent conditions, such as broken bones.
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Doctors can stabilize patients with life-threatening conditions until they can be transferred to a hospital on shore. As with the Royal Princess emergency, medical teams will coordinate with the local Coast Guard or authorities for an emergency evacuation in these cases.
Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay is located in McKinleyville, California, and is strategically located due to the area’s notorious weather conditions, including heavy fog.
This sector is crucial in search and rescue (SAR) operations, maritime law enforcement, and environmental protection stretching from the Oregon border to the southern end of Mendocino County in Northern California.
