Perilous medical evacuation on the high seas for the passenger of a GNV ferry, leaving from Sète

Le Dragon 66 de la sécurité civile s'est rendu sur place. L'Independant – Clementz Michel

Le voyageur de 75 ans qui présentait une suspicion de problème cardiaque a été évacué par hélicoptère au large des Pyrénées-Orientales.

This Friday March 1st around 5 p.m., the Cristal, a GNV ferry which provides the connection between the port of Sète and that of Tangier, requested the intervention of the Mediterranean Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center (CrossMed) based near Toulon.

One of the passengers on the ship, which can carry up to 2,000 people, showed worrying signs of a heart condition requiring urgent medical intervention while on the ferry was located off the Pyrénées-Orientales.

Helicoptered from the edge

"We initially established a telephone line between the maritime medical consultation center in Toulouse, the medical coordination Samu in Toulon and the ship. The doctor recommended evacuation to the Perpignan hospital, specifies CrossMed.

Thanks to the intervention of a civil security helicopter, the 75-year-old patient was taken care of off the coast of Port-Vendres, airlifted then taken to the hospital center from Perpignan. The GNV Cristal continued its route towards Morocco.