The woman was lifted by an Italian Air Force crew from the deck of the ship “Balmoral” and urgently transported to the “G. Brotzu” hospital in Cagliari
A helicopter HH-139B of the Italian Air Force intervened on the morning of today, Tuesday 18 October, to recover a 77-year-old German woman, struck down by a serious illness while on board the cruise ship “Balmoral”, off the southern coast of Sardinia.
The helicopter, one of the Armed Forces’ assets always ready for take-off across the national territory even for this kind of intervention, immediately took off from an’Decimomannu Military Airport (CA), headquarters of the’80° Centro Combat SAR (Search and Rescue) of the 15th Wing. Having reached the ship at around 11:20, the crew the woman was rescued in a few minutes using the winch of rescue, an indispensable tool where, as in this case, it is not possible to land. Once boarding was safely completed, the helicopter headed to the “G. Brotzu” Hospital in Cagliari.
The request for intervention, received from Cagliari Prefecture, was authorised by Rescue Coordination Centre del Aerospace Operations Command in Poggio Renatico (Ferrara), the Command and Control Centre of the Italian Air Force from which all operational activities of this kind are managed.
Once the rescue was complete, the military crew returned to the Decimomannu military base, where they resumed search and rescue readiness duty.
The 80th CSAR Centre is one of the departments of the 15th Wing of the Air Force, which guarantees search and rescue for flight crews in difficulty every single day of the year, and contributes to public utility activities such as the search for missing persons at sea or in mountains, the urgent medical transport of patients in life-threatening situations, and the rescue of severely injured individuals. Since its establishment to the present day, the 15th Wing's crews have saved approximately 7,300 people in life-threatening situations. The 15th Wing operates under the command of the Mobility and Support Forces Command (CFMS) del Air Squadron Command.
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