RCAF Evacuates Injured Cruise Crew Member Off Port Hardy
The Kingfisher reached the vessel first and stayed overhead while the Cormorant helicopter lowered two search-and-rescue technicians to the deck.
A Royal Canadian Air Force search-and-rescue team evacuated an injured crew member from a cruise ship sailing 182 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy, British Columbia, on Sept. 8. The patient was flown to Comox and transferred to a waiting BC Emergency Health Services helicopter.
A CC-295 Kingfisher fixed-wing aircraft and a CH-149 Cormorant, a long-range all-weather search-and-rescue helicopter, responded from 19 Wing Comox’s 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron. The Kingfisher reached the ship first. The aircraft coordinated the evacuation with the ship’s captain and remained overhead during the mission.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Victoria dispatched the aircraft under the callsigns RSCU 503 for the Kingfisher and RSCU 915 for the Cormorant. After reaching the vessel, the helicopter lowered two search-and-rescue technicians to the deck.
The technicians took responsibility for the patient and prepared the crew member for transfer. Video recorded by the rescue team shows the Cormorant hovering above the ship as the patient and accompanying medical personnel were hoisted aboard.
The Department of National Defence identifies 442 Squadron as the primary aviation and marine response unit for the Victoria search-and-rescue region, which covers about 920,000 square kilometres across British Columbia and Yukon along with 560,000 square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean. The ship and its operator were not identified, and no details were disclosed about the crew member’s injury or current condition.
