This night a HH-139B helicopter of the’82° SAR Centre (Search and Rescue) of the Italian Air Force based at Trapani airport, intervened to urgently transport a heart attack patient and a trauma patient from the island of Pantelleria at Trapani hospital.
The mission was coordinated by Aerospace Operations Command of Poggio Renatico (Ferrara), which ordered the helicopter's take-off at the request of Trapani Prefecture. The crew, with a doctor and a nurse from the hospital on board, took off for Pantelleria for their first mission at around 11:30 PM. Upon reaching the location, the heart attack patient, a 59-year-old man, was embarked and immediately transported to Trapani hospital. Shortly afterwards, the helicopter took off again for Pantelleria to assist the second patient, a 17-year-old boy with a displaced fracture. The second mission concluded with the release of the young trauma victim at Trapani hospital at 4 AM, before returning to base to resume national search and rescue readiness.
At the same time, it was activated by Rescue Coordination Centre From the Aerospace Operations Command of Poggio Renatico, another complex search and rescue mission for a missing hiker in the mountains in the Col Nudo area, in the province of Pordenone, in conjunction with the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps. An HH-139B helicopter’83rd SAR Group It took off shortly after midnight from the permanent base in Cervia and, after a stop at a small airfield near the search area to embark two CNSAS technicians, headed to the zone to search for the missing person. The man, located thanks to the teamwork between all the rescue teams involved in the operation, was recovered by the Air Force crew using the winch shortly after 1 am and released in good health at the same Claut airfield from which the rescue operation had started.
From its establishment to today, the crews of the 15° The Wing has saved thousands of people in imminent danger of death. The Wing guarantees, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the search and rescue of flight crews in distress, also contributing to public utility activities such as the search for missing persons at sea or in mountains, the emergency medical transport of patients in imminent danger of death and the rescue of severely traumatised individuals, operating even in complex weather conditions. Since 2018, the Department has also acquired the AIB (Wildfire Fighting) capability, contributing to the prevention and fight against fires throughout the national territory as part of the inter-force system deployed by the Defence.
From the 15th° Cervia Air Base, beyond ’82° Trapani SAR Centre, they depend, deployed throughout the national territory, even 80° Decimomannu (Cagliari) SAR Centre, the 83rd° Flight SAR Group, based in Cervia, ’84° Gioia del Colle (Bari) SAR Centre (Search and Rescue Centre) and the 85° SAR Practice Centre of Mare (Rome).
