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Pregnant Woman Had To Be Airlifted Off Disney Cruise Ship After Medical Emergency
The ship was about 180 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico.
An unnamed pregnant woman was airlifted from a Disney cruise this week, taken from the deck of the ship by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. The 35-year-old American woman “required a high level of medical care,” according to a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard, and was hoisted onto the aircraft in a rescue basket. A truly harrowing experience for anyone, let alone a pregnant woman.
The Disney Fantasy ship, one of several Disney Cruise Line vessels, was about 180 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico in the Atlantic on Monday when the U.S. Coast Guard received a communication from the ship. “Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a communication from the Disney Fantasy Monday morning requesting medevac assistance,” the statement from the U.S. Coast Guard reads. The call was in regard to “a 35-year-old pregnant woman, U.S. citizen, who experienced health complications and required a higher level of medical care ashore.”
The “aircrew deployed their rescue swimmer aboard the cruise ship, who prepared a rescue basket and litter to safely hoist the patient and cruise ship doctor aboard the aircraft,” according to the Coast Guard.
Video footage of the moment shared on social media shows a Coast Guard aircrew member being lowered by a rope onto the deck of the Disney Fantasy, where they can be seen preparing a rescue basket for the pregnant woman, who was carried out on a stretcher. She was then attached to a rescue basket and hoisted on to the aircraft.
The pregnant patient was transported to the local Centro Medico Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she required a “high level of medical care.” No update on the pregnant woman’s medical status was shared.
“We are glad everything came together to help this passenger,” Ensign Michael Riccio, Coast Guard Sector San Juan operations unit leader for the case, said. “The competency displayed by the Disney Fantasy crew and the Coast Guard personnel and units involved made all the difference.”
While this case is extreme, it can always be a bit stressful to travel while pregnant. On the one hand, it’s a lovely time to get away and enjoy a little babymoon ahead of your child’s arrival, but medical emergencies can happen. And fortunately for this pregnant mom, the U.S. Coast Guard and Disney Fantasy crew really came through to help her in a terrifying situation.
