Maryland State Police Aviation Command Rescues Cruise Ship Crew Member Suffering Medical Emergency

(STEVENSVILLE, MD) – Troopers from the Maryland State Police Aviation Command on Friday rescued a crew member who was having a medical emergency aboard a cruise ship sailing in the Chesapeake Bay

The aviation crew from the Easton Section, Trooper 6, responded to the Chesapeake Bay off of the shores of Kent Island around 7 p.m. on Friday. The United States Coast Guard – Sector Baltimore called advising that the Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship was requesting immediate aerial evacuation of one of its crew members who was experiencing a serious medical event.

The crew from Trooper 6 prepared the Leonardo AW-139 aircraft for a rescue and deployed a trooper/recue technician to the deck of the ship to perform a patient assessment and package the patient for extraction. After a detailed patient assessment was performed it was determined that the patient required evacuation to a higher level of care at a medical facility.

The patient was packaged and successfully extracted from the deck of the ship and into the aircraft. Once secured, the crew of Trooper 6 seamlessly transitioned to a medevac role without any further delay in care which continued en route to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

The Maryland State Police Aviation Command has served Maryland citizens since 1970 and operates a fleet of 10 AW139 helicopters from seven bases throughout the State. Each aircraft provides coverage 24/7/365 to Maryland residents and visitors. The MSPAC missions include medevac, law enforcement, search and rescue, homeland security, and disaster assessment. The success of the missions relies heavily on the cooperative efforts of local fire, rescue, EMS, law enforcement agencies, and our partners at the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Park Police.

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CONTACT:    Director Donald Hawkins – MSPAC Flight Operations

                        donald.hawkins@maryland.gov, 410-238-5802