Royal Caribbean cruise returns to port after Coast Guard rescues passenger
BAYONNE, N.J. — Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas is docked at Cape Liberty Cruise Port this morning after its scheduled return from The Bahamas, less than two days after an ailing passenger was plucked from the cruise ship by the Coast Guard.
In a statement, the Coast Guard said its Fifth District command center in Virginia received a medical evacuation request on Friday evening, to transfer a woman with internal bleeding aboard to a hospital on land. The assistance was requested by members of the ship’s crew.
At the time of the emergency, Anthem of the Seas – which is 1,141 feet in length, has a crew of 1,500 and a capacity to accommodate 4,905 passengers – was about 231 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, the statement said.
Coast Guard watch officers dispatched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and a Lockheed HC-130 search and rescue plane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City in North Carolina, the statement said.
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Upon arrival, the helicopter “hoisted the woman and a family member” up to the aircraft and flew her to New Hanover Regional Hospital in Wilmington, North Carolina. The patient was not identified.
You can reach Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com