Cruise Passenger Airlifted From Ovation of the Seas in Canada

A passenger onboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas was evacuated by helicopter and taken to hospital after experiencing a medical emergency off the coast of British Columbia.

The incident occurred on August 9 while the cruise ship was sailing around 100 kilometers northwest of Tofino, B.C.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Victoria received a request to carry out a medical evacuation from the vessel and coordinated the subsequent rescue operation with the Canadian Armed Forces deploying a CH-149 Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter and a CC-295 Kingfisher aircraft from 19 Wing Comox to assist the passenger.

Footage released by the military shows the rescue crews reaching Ovation of the Seas at sea before beginning the complex evacuation procedure.

The Kingfisher was the first aircraft to reach the cruise ship. Its crew monitored the situation from the air and helped coordinate the operation. Search-and-rescue technicians were subsequently lowered from the Cormorant helicopter onto *Ovation’s *deck. Once onboard, the rescue team assessed the passenger’s condition and stabilized them before preparing them to be transported from the vessel.

The passenger’s spouse was also evacuated from the cruise ship using a rescue basket. Both were then transported by air to a hospital in Victoria, where the passenger could receive further medical treatment.

Medical evacuations involving cruise ships are not unusual along Canada’s west coast, particularly during the busy Alaska cruise season. Hundreds of cruise ships carrying more than one million passengers travel through the waters connecting Vancouver, Victoria and Alaska during the season. This high volume of cruise traffic means search-and-rescue personnel based at 19 Wing Comox are regularly called upon to assist with maritime incidents and medical evacuations in the region.