Grandeur of the SeasA number of news stations are reporting that the Maryland State Police sent a helicopter to medevac a cruise passenger from the Grandeur of the Seas in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Maryland police officers were notified by the Coast Guard Friday evening that a passenger onboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship needed to be taken to a hospital for cardiac care.

The helicopter crew stationed at St. Mary’s County Airport in Hollywood, Maryland, was the closest aircraft to the cruise ship which was sailing southwest of Tangier Island.

According to Southern Maryland Online, the Maryland State Police Aviation Command has served Maryland citizens since 1970, and operates a fleet of ten helicopters from seven bases throughout Maryland on a 24/7/365 basis. State Police Aviation Command crews have conducted several hoists of patients off cargo ships, but they believe this is the first hoist of a patient from a cruise ship.

The cruise ship sailed from Baltimore to the  Bahamas and Florida on a 7-night cruise.

Photo Credit:  J. Glover – Transferred from en.wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons