Cruise emergency: Airlift rescue from P&O ship at sea
The P&O cruise ship was forced to skip a destination on its route after one of the passengers suffered a serious medical incident onboard. Moments later, everyone watched as a helicopter approached the ship.
10:02 AM EDT, October 9, 2024
The Pacific Explorer P&O set sail from Auckland on October 1, stopping at Norfolk Island in Australia before visiting several islands in Vanuatu. On Tuesday, October 8, the ship anchored at Mystery Island, one of the archipelago's southernmost islands.
The ship had to leave port due to an ill passenger
Passengers were supposed to leave the ship and spend one day on the island before the ship returned to Auckland. One of the passengers told the Herald that 10 minutes before disembarkation, the captain announced that someone had suffered a serious medical incident and was no longer allowed to leave the ship.
The crew tried to find a solution by involving the authorities of Vanuatu and New Caledonia to send a helicopter or plane to Mystery Island to pick up the passengers and take them to a hospital for proper treatment. This, however, did not succeed.
The ship had to leave Mystery Island for a seven-hour journey to Mare in New Caledonia. The French army sent a military helicopter there to take the passenger from the cruise ship to Nouméa for treatment.
The passenger in need was taken from the ship by a military aircraft
The passengers' recordings show when the sick passenger was taken by helicopter. "Hundreds of people stood up on the top deck to get a view, but frankly, everyone was just hoping the person would be okay," a passenger told the Herald.
"The timing was unlucky. If they had fallen unwell in Port Vila or Norfolk Island, it would have been an easy trip to seek medical treatment. They just happened to get sick at the one place furthest away from medical attention. I don’t know how common or rare this is, but it’s pretty wild to think someone had to be plucked from a moving ship in the middle of the ocean," the passenger reported.
A spokesperson for P&O Cruises Australia issued a statement regarding the rescue operation, stating, "Pacific Explorer cancelled a visit to Mystery Island yesterday (Tuesday) because a guest needed urgent medical attention. The guest was cared for by our onboard team until the medical evacuation could take place, off New Caledonia. We thank the authorities in New Caledonia for assisting us. We thank our guests for their understanding," the statement said.
