An ailing 35-year-old Polish woman aboard the cruise ship The World was airlifted Friday afternoon to Kona Community Hospital for treatment.
An ailing 35-year-old Polish woman aboard the cruise ship The World was airlifted Friday afternoon to Kona Community Hospital for treatment.
The woman, who was suffering from pneumonia, was picked up by a U.S. Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter about 12:15 p.m. from the cruise ship, which was located in waters about 92 miles southwest of Kona, said U.S. Coast Guard District 14 Petty Officer Anthony Soto. The woman was flown to Kona International Airport and transported to the hospital by medics.
The World, a private residential community-at-sea that circumnavigates the world, was en route to Honolulu at the time, he said.
The Coast Guard, through its Honolulu Rescue Coordination Center, received information around 9 p.m. Thursday the patient had pneumonia. At that time, the vessel was located about 300 miles southwest of Kona.
Her condition was reported as stable Thursday.
On Friday morning, though, doctors aboard the vessel contacted the Coast Guard to report she needed to be taken to land because the cruise ship would not have enough oxygen to maintain her care. The Coast Guard, to ensure an adequate supply, delivered oxygen to the ship by helicopter about 11 a.m.
Hillari Graff, with the Miramar, Fla.,-based cruise ship’s public relations firm, Strategic Vision, confirmed a patient was being treated aboard the ship and was slated to be transported to a “Kona area hospital.” No further information, including whether the vessel was to stop in Kona, was available.
But, she did note The World has a “few stops in Hawaii.”