Canadian crews evacuate injured Disney Wonder crew member off British Columbia
The Royal Canadian Air Force operation was followed four days later by a second cruise ship medical evacuation in the same region.
Royal Canadian Air Force crews responded Sept. 8 to a reported injury involving a crew member aboard Disney Wonder, according to an account of the operation.
The ship was about 113 miles northwest of Port Hardy, British Columbia, while sailing a seven-night cruise from Vancouver when 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron at 19 Wing Comox was called. Two search-and-rescue technicians hoisted the patient and a member of the ship’s medical staff onto a helicopter.
The injured crew member was flown to Comox for transfer to BC Emergency Health Services. The nature of the injury and the patient’s condition were not released. Disney Wonder continued its scheduled Alaska itinerary after the evacuation.
Four days later, on Sept. 12, the same squadron responded to another cruise ship about 124 miles northwest of Port Hardy. During the pre-dawn operation, crews airlifted an ill passenger, the passenger’s traveling companion and a member of the ship’s medical staff using a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-295 Kingfisher aircraft.