THE RACQ CareFlight Rescue helicopter winched an elderly Sydney woman from the Dutch cruise ship ‘Volendam’ while it was tracking 40 nautical miles east of Rainbow Beach on the weekend.
It was reported the woman, aged in her eighties, suffered a medical condition after boarding the ship with her daughter in Sydney on Saturday, 22 November.
The woman was treated by the ship’s doctor but when her condition worsened, the Sunshine Coast based RACQ CareFlight Rescue helicopter was tasked to the northwards-bound ship to leave at first light the next morning.
Before 6am, the crew spotted the ship 60 nautical miles north east of their Sunshine Coast base and prepared for a winch rescue. A Queensland Ambulance Service Flight Intensive Care Paramedic was winched down onto the front deck of the moving vessel.
The patient was treated, secured in the stretcher and winched aboard the helicopter.
She was airlifted in a stable condition to Nambour General Hospital where a Brisbane-based relative was said to have met her.
Meanwhile, a second woman in her sixties required airlifting by an RACQ CareFlight Rescue helicopter after she sustained suspected spinal injuries while swimming at Rainbow Beach on Sunday.
The woman, visiting from Gympie, was swimming in the surf when she was dumped by a wave.
The Sunshine Coast based RACQ CareFlight Rescue helicopter landed on a nearby sports oval where the patient was transported by road ambulance.
She was flown to Nambour General Hospital in a stable condition.
