The Cape Cod Times reports a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a sick crewman from the Norwegian Day cruise ship approximately 46 miles southeast of Nantucket to a Cape Cod hospital July 28th.
The Norwegian Dawn contacted Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England personnel around 6 p.m., requesting assistance for a 35-year-old crewman experiencing abdominal pain. Rick Arsenault, a search and rescue controller at the 1st Coast Guard District Command Center in Boston, stated, “After the flight surgeon determined the patient required medical care that wasn’t available on the cruise ship, we dispatched the helicopter crew to transport him from the ship to the hospital… Our crew was able to get him the attention he needed much faster than having the ship come into port.”
The Federal Jones Act and maritime law requires a cruise line to provide sick crewmembers with prompt, proper and adequate medical care. The crewmember’s condition is unknown.
