fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: December 18, 2007 04:47PM
i hear sirens in the distance
ORLANDO399 Report This Comment Date: December 18, 2007 04:50PM
uh.......ummmmmm.......like
PULL
OVER
and stuff
90130_ Report This Comment Date: December 18, 2007 07:04PM
I hope the military always keeps their edge and gets the support they need no
matter who ends up in the oval office. We have an awesome responsibility and the
power to do tremendous good with it.
No job is too small. Read on.
Navy Saves Gravely Ill Girl on Cruise
SAN DIEGO - A teenager whose appendix ruptured at sea, hundreds of miles from
help, got safely to shore Tuesday after an unusual rescue in which the Navy
airlifted her from a cruise ship for emergency surgery.
Laura Montero, 14, fell ill aboard the Dawn Princess cruise ship off the coast
of Baja California. The Bahamian-registered ship sent out a distress call Friday
that was answered by the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on training maneuvers
about 500 miles away.
The nuclear carrier was the closest ship with a hospital facility, according to
a news release from the Navy. It steamed overnight toward the cruise ship, which
was about 250 miles northwest of Cabo San Lucas when the call went out.
A helicopter took off from the Reagan around 5 a.m. Saturday to close the final
175-mile gap between the ships. The crew arrived after a 45-minute flight and
lowered a medic onto the cruise ship deck in a basket because there wasn't space
to land, said Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Leland, the pilot.
Montero, who was on an antibiotic drip, was loaded into a litter basket, lifted
into the helicopter and flown back to the Reagan for an appendectomy. Her mother
stayed aboard the cruise ship.
"We practice this all the time, but this is the first time I've pulled a
civilian off a cruise ship," Leland said.
A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises, which operates the Dawn Princess, said the
ship's captain called the Coast Guard for help because he felt that would be
faster than diverting to the nearest Mexican port.
"Where the ship was, where the land was and the fact that the Ronald Reagan
had (a surgical facility) on board were all factors that came into play,"
said Julie Benson. "The option is to go to the nearest medical facility
that can treat the patient."
The Dawn Princess returned to its home port of San Diego over the weekend from
its regular weeklong run along the Baja California coast to the resorts of Cabo
San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The Reagan, which carries as many as 6,000 crew members and costs about $2.5
million a day to operate while under way, returned Tuesday morning, its
scheduled return from the training tour.
Montero, of Albion, Ill., is expected to make a full recovery.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 18/12/2007 10:23PM by 90130_.