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CareFlight flies from Darwin to rescue ill ship captain

Ian Badham
13th November 2009, 6:40am

CareFlight's Darwin helicopter has taken off to rescue the seriously ill captain of a bulk carrier ship at sea off Australia's Top End.

The helicopter departed Darwin a short time ago on the mission which is expected to take several hours to complete.

The national search and rescue co-ordination authority, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in Canberra, overnight asked CareFlight to undertake the rescue mission.

The crew comprising a CareFlight pilot and air crewman, and a doctor from the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service (NTAMS), is flying to the 225-metre long ship Penda Bulka which departed from Weipa, on Cape York, two days ago.

The ship alerted AMSA overnight to a medical emergency, with the ship's captain suffering severe abdominal pain.

The ship is currently located some 100 nautical miles (170 km) north-east from Darwin.

The CareFlight crew expect to land on the ship's helipad to allow the doctor to start treating the captain before he is placed on board the helicopter for the return flight to Royal Darwin Hospital.

CareFlight recently put a six-member NTAMS team of doctors and nurses through a two-day course to allow them to be winched down on the helicopter’s rescue hoist to provide life saving care for people critically ill and injured in difficult to access terrain and offshore vessels.

A national charity, CareFlight this year has based one of its dedicated medical-rescue helicopters in Darwin to support the NT Government through its Department of Health & Families, the NT Police and the national Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

Since January CareFlight has conducted missions ranging from the transfer of patients from hospitals such as Katherine to Darwin, taking NTMAS teams to the scene of car crashes and other injuries, the rescue of sick personnel from ships at sea and flooding rivers and searches for lost fishing boats and crashed light aircraft.

For further information please contact NRMA CareFlight director Ian Badham on 0418 245 748.

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