Yesterday morning, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) medevaced a sixty-six year old woman from the Ruby Princess cruise ship. The USCG station in Astoria, Oregon dispatched a MH-60 Jayhawk which winched the cruise guest from the Princess cruise ship when the ship was approximately seventy-five miles southwest of the Columbia River Bar near Portland.

KATU news station in Oregon reported that the woman was airlifted to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland and is now in stable medical condition.

There is no public information regarding what medical condition this particular passenger suffered from or the reason for the emergency medical evacuation.

Medical evacuation of guests or crew members from cruise ships is provided by the USCG without cost or expense to the cruise guests, crew members or the cruise lines themselves. It is one of the many expenses incurred by U.S. federal agencies which are paid by U.S. taxpayers.

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Image credits: Screengrab and video – U.S. Coast Guard via the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) and USCGPacificNorthwest / @USCGPacificNW.