A complex night-time medical evacuation unfolded off the coast of Table Bay after the NSRI Table Bay duty crew responded to an urgent request to assist an ill crew member aboard an oil tanker at sea, Cape {town} Etc reports.
The crew was alerted by the NSRI Emergency Operations Centre following a request from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) to prepare for a medical evacuation operation at 8:20pm on Saturday.
The motor vessel, an oil tanker en route to Durban, was offshore south of Cape Agulhas when communications with a Western Cape Government Health EMS duty doctor prompted the vessel to turn around and head back towards Table Bay.
On board was a 23-year-old male crewman suffering from an illness that required urgent hospital care.
At 12:10am in the early hours of Sunday, 19 April, the NSRI rescue craft DHL Deliverer was launched with two Western Cape Government Health EMS rescue paramedics and an NSRI Maritime Extrication (MEX) crew member on board.
The rescue vessel rendezvoused with the tanker approximately 15 nautical miles offshore in challenging conditions, with two- to three-metre swells and a 20-knot north-westerly wind complicating the transfer.
An NSRI MEX crewman was transferred onto the oil tanker, where, in cooperation with the ship’s medical team, the patient described as a ‘walking wounded’ and in a stable condition was safely moved onto the rescue craft and placed in the care of EMS paramedics.
The patient was transported back to the NSRI Table Bay Station 3 rescue base before being taken to hospital by ambulance for further medical treatment.
According to NSRI, the patient is expected to make a full recovery.
The demanding operation concluded at 3:15am on Sunday morning.
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Picture: NSRI
Source: NSRI
