A HH-139B helicopter from the 84th SAR Centre in Gioia del Colle intervened to rescue the woman
The rescue carried out by a helicopter concluded just minutes ago. HH-139B of the’84° SAR Centre (Search and Rescue – Search and Rescue) of the 15th Wing of the Air Force in favour of a 70-year-old woman with severe heart problems who was on board a Maltese cruise ship off the coast of Bari.
The SAR crew on standby alert was activated by Rescue Coordination Centre del Aerospace Operations Command in Poggio Renatico (FE), the Air Force department that coordinates and manages all these types of rescue missions, which had received the request for intervention from the Coast Guard – Maritime Directorate of Bari.
airfield.’Gioia del Colle Air Base (BA) and reached the Maltese vessel that was about 15 miles from the Bari coast. Once on site, from the helicopter HH-139B it was lowered using the winch a air rescuer with a special air-transportable stretcher, onto which the patient was subsequently secured, thanks also to the assistance of the on-board doctor. After securing the woman, the military crew recovered the stretcher with the woman on board and headed towards the’Bari-Palese Airport where an ambulance was ready to wait for her to take her to the nearest hospital for the necessary treatment.
It 15th Wing of the Italian Air Force guarantees, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, seamless search and rescue for aircrews in distress, also contributing to public utility activities such as the search for missing persons at sea or in mountains, the urgent medical transport of patients in imminent danger of life and the rescue of severely traumatised individuals, operating even in particularly complex meteorological conditions.
From its inception to the present day, crews of the 15th Wing have rescued more than 7500 people in life-threatening danger. Since 2018, the Unit has acquired AIB (Forest Fire Fightingcontributing to the prevention and combating of fires across the national territory within the framework of the joint interforce device deployed by the Defence.
