By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Jan 20:
A 65 Year old American patient needing urgent hospitalisation was evacuated by the Indian Coast guard (ICG) from a passenger vessel off Mumbai Coast and was handed over to the agent of the ship on Thursday.
The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre Mumbai (MRCC) of the Indian Coast Guard received a message in the morning that an American patient on board MV World Odyssey, required immediate medical attention. The passenger James Douglas Shirley, aged 65 yrs, suffered retinal displacement and required urgent hospitalization for surgery.
The cruise vessel MV World Odyssey, with 175 passengers on its way to Mombasa, Kenya, was about 230 Nautical miles from Mumbai. Soon after the message was received, an ICG ship C-439 was dispatched with medical team and the patient was safely evacuated and handed over to vessel’s agent in Mumbai for further medical management at Global hospital an official statement read.
The vessel World Odyssey is a Passenger (Cruise) Ship built in 1998 and currently sailing under the flag of Bahamas. She is expected to reach Kenya on January 26.
The successful operation and seamless coordination of Maritime Search and Rescue in the Indian Search and Rescue Region by ICG Units and MRCC reaffirmed ICGs capabilities as nodal coordinating agency for M-SAR in the Indian Ocean Region inline with its commitment to the motto “We Protect” an official statement read.
In another incident, the ICG rescued 511 pilgrims of Ganga Sagar mela stranded at sea in two different ferries, off Kakdwip in West Bengal on Monday. Two passenger ferries carrying 500-600 pilgrims from Ganga Sagar were stranded in the sea due to fog and low tide.
The ferry vessels –M V Lacchmati and M V Agramati were ferrying about 600 passengers from Ganga Sagar mela at Sagar Island to Kakdwip. Upon receiving the message, operation teams of the ICGs swung into action and despatched two air cushion vehicles (hovercraft) from Haldia to Frazerganj to provide rescue assistance, the official statement read.
