A British passenger aboard a Princess Cruises ship was airlifted to a hospital by the Spanish coast guard after experiencing heart issues during her voyage.
Images released by Spain’s Galician Coast Guard show emergency personnel and cruise staff helping a woman into a helicopter rescue basket before being airlifted on Wednesday, 26 March.
“The Pesca 1 helicopter of the Galician Coast Guard service evacuated a passenger from the Sky Princess cruise ship, 15 miles west of A Guarda,” the coast guard said.
They added the woman was airlifted “due to heart problems” and was transferred her to the Álvaro Cunqueiro hospital.
The coast guard told The Sun it had “coordinated the medical evacuation of a British woman from the cruise ship Sky Princess, which had departed from Vigo heading to Funchal, five miles southwest of Cape Silleiro.”
Sky Princess left Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a 27-day one-way cruise around Spain and Portugal, with stops also in Morocco and the Canary Islands before it is due to anchor at its final stop in Southampton on 5 April.
The cruise was roughly halfway through its itinerary after leaving Vigo, Spain on its way to Funchal, Portugal when the British cruise passenger had to be airlifted back to Vigo to be hospitalised.
Another Princess Cruise ship hit headlines earlier this month after several of its passengers and crew were injured during a sailing from Sydney after the vessel encountered rough waters and dramatically tilted on its side.
Sixteen passengers and crew sustained injuries after the Crown Princess, which was on a two-week round trip, hit strong winds after changing course close to Milford Sound, a famous fjord on New Zealand’s South Island.
Video footage shows staff scrambling to grab breakfast dishes and plates rolling down the kitchen as passengers battled to stay upright at the buffet.
The on-deck swimming pool can be seen spilling over as the ship tilted with pots and pans crashing onto the kitchen floor and perfumes toppled from shelves in the gift shop.
The captain told guests that the ship had been hit by a 75-knot wind, which momentarily increased the vessel’s speed and tilted the boat by 14 degrees.
The Independent has contacted Princess Cruises and the Galician Coast Guard for comment.
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Source: independent.co.uk
