The operation, carried out on Easter Monday evening on the Ponza – Latina stretch, in conditions of reduced visibility, was performed using an HH-139B helicopter from the 85th SAR Centre of Pratica di Mare.

È stato portato a termine nella tarda serata di ieri un arresto a seguito di una rapina avvenuta qualche giorno fa. Urgent medical transport in favour of a lady approximately 65 years old with multiple traumas who urgently needed to be transported from’Ponza Island all’Santa Maria Goretti Hospital in Latina.

The activation request has arrived, on the holiday of Easter Monday, from Latina Prefecture al Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) del Air and Space Operations Command (COA) in Poggio Renatico (FE) which has, among its duties, that of managing these types of missions for citizens in difficulty.

The RCC has therefore activated the’85° Centre Search and Rescue (SAR) of Pratica di Mare – the closest SAR centre of the Air Force to the intervention zone – which immediately made available a HH-139B helicopter. The crew, on standby, therefore took off initially in the direction of Latina to embark a medical team necessary to assist the woman during the flight, and subsequently headed towards Ponza.

Utilising night flight capabilities with the use of special NVG gogglesNight Vision GogglesThis translates to: ’and the on-board systems for flight in reduced visibility conditions, the Air Force crew was able to recover the injured person and take her quickly to the"military airport“Enrico Comani” in Latina, who was then transported by ambulance to the local hospital. At this point, the helicopter returned to Pratica di Mare shortly after midnight and resumed its usual emergency service.

The’85° SAR Centre It depends 15th Air Wing of Cervia which guarantees, 24 hours a day, every single day of the year, the search and rescue of flight crews in difficulty, also contributing to public utility activities such as the search for missing persons at sea or in mountains, the emergency medical transport of patients facing imminent danger to life, and the rescue of seriously traumatised individuals, operating in complex weather conditions, both day and night.

From its establishment to the present day, the crews of the 15th Wing have saved thousands of people in life-threatening situations. In addition to the 85th SAR Centre in Pratica di Mare, the 15th Wing in Cervia also has [units] located throughout the national territory, including the’80° SAR Centre, Decimomannu (Cagliari), the’82° Trapani SAR Centre, the’83rd SAR Group, right on Cervia, and the’84° SAR Centre Gioia del Colle Bari.