RCAF Evacuates Three From Cruise Ships Off Vancouver Island
In the first mission, a Kingfisher reached Disney Wonder first to coordinate with the captain before a Cormorant lowered two technicians to the ship's deck.
Royal Canadian Air Force crews evacuated two passengers and an injured crew member from three cruise ships off northern Vancouver Island between Sept. 8 and Sept. 14, 2026. 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron at 19 Wing Comox flew all three missions.
The ships were between 182 and about 450 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy when assistance was requested. There was no indication that the three medical emergencies were connected.
Three evacuations in seven days
The first call came Sept. 8 from the Disney Wonder, which was sailing 182 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy. Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Victoria dispatched a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-295 Kingfisher aircraft.
The Kingfisher, using the call sign RSCU 503, reached the ship first and coordinated with its captain while providing overwatch. The Cormorant, RSCU 915, then lowered two search-and-rescue technicians to the deck to prepare the injured crew member for hoisting.
The patient and accompanying medical personnel were flown to Comox, where the crew member was transferred to a BC Emergency Health Services helicopter. Disney Wonder continued its seven-night Alaska cruise without a reported itinerary change.
Four days later, the squadron responded before dawn to another cruise ship approximately 200 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy. After the Kingfisher coordinated the operation, two technicians descended from the Cormorant and took over the passenger’s care. The patient, a travelling companion and medical personnel were hoisted into the helicopter and flown to Comox for transfer to emergency health services.
The third evacuation took place Sept. 14 aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Serenade of the Seas, about 450 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy. Two technicians were lowered to the ship, and the passenger was lifted into the hovering helicopter before being flown to Port Hardy and transferred to paramedics.
Serenade of the Seas had departed Vancouver the previous day for a seven-night Alaska itinerary that included Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan and Prince Rupert.
How the Comox squadron flies these missions
Each mission paired the helicopter used for the shipboard extraction with a fixed-wing aircraft responsible for communication, coordination and overwatch. The Cormorant has a published range of about 1,389 kilometres, while the Kingfisher’s range is 4,500 kilometres.
Capt. Steve Davies described the open-water flights. “You are vulnerable out over the ocean for protracted periods,” Davies said. “Naturally the planning that goes into them is quite intense.”
The approximately 200-member squadron supplies aviation and marine search-and-rescue resources for the Victoria search-and-rescue region. That area encompasses about 920,000 square kilometres of British Columbia and Yukon, along with 560,000 square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean.
The Department of National Defence and BC Emergency Health Services did not disclose detailed diagnoses for the patients, citing privacy. No further condition updates were released.
