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Louise Thomas
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The U.S. Coast Guard had to airlift an 8-year-old boy from a cruise ship after he became severely ill.
According to a press release, Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay watchstanders were notified of the emergency on Tuesday (24 September) at around 7 a.m. local time when the Royal Princess ship was about 20 miles west of Eureka, California. Crew members – including aviation survival technician Philip Morie and helicopter pilot Lt. Katherine McDonnell – were notified that “an 8-year-old male passenger onboard was diagnosed with appendicitis and needed to be medevaced.”
“We didn’t have it in sight, which from 10 miles out, flying at like 300 or 400 feet … [it] was a giant cruise ship, we should be able to see it, and we couldn’t see it,” McDonnell recalled to Good Morning America. “We were like, ‘That’s unusual.’ As we got closer and closer, we were out about 5 miles and we’re like, ‘Well, we still can’t see it.’”
Although foggy conditions made it difficult to spot the ship, at around 8 a.m. local time, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter arrived to evacuate the passenger named Daniel Jiang, and his family. Footage shows Morie rappelling down to hoist the boy into a large metal rescue basket before the helicopter lifted him into its compartment.
“On the way up, you know, I’m just still talking to the kid and, you know, giving him high fives and trying to keep him calm,” Morie noted. Throughout the medevac situation, Daniel told the outlet he kept his eyes shut the entire time.
Two more of Daniel’s family members – his mother Nicole and brother – were taken up in the basket as well.
Nicole explained what happened at the time, saying: “The doctor in the cruise said the situation is very [much an] emergency ... Daniel got [a] very high fever and the situation [grew] worse and worse.”
“I don’t know how to describe [it],” she recalled of the experience, noting the rescue was “unbelievable.”
The Coast Guard team was able to rush Daniel and his family in time to a hospital so that he could be immediately admitted into surgery and get an appendectomy. His surgery was thankfully a success and has since remained in the hospital, recovering from the procedure. His doctors have confirmed that he will be alright.
The rescue mission was McDonnell’s first on the job, with the pilot reflecting that it was “a pretty incredible feeling” knowing that she played a part in saving the youngster’s life. Meanwhile, Morie, for whom this wasn’t his first rodeo, noted that it was “a big win for everybody involved.”
