Sailor rescued after heart attack
By Hu Meidong in Fuzhou and Xin Wen in Beijing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-07-14 12:10
A foreign crew member on a cargo ship who suffered a sudden heart attack was rescued by a Chinese helicopter team on Friday, local media reported.
The crew member, aboard a Maltese cargo ship from Indonesia, was in urgent need of medical treatment when the ship sailed into the open sea 20 kilometers south of Jinmen, an island attached to Taiwan but it lingered off the coast of Fujian province.
At 11:18 am on Friday, Donghai No 2 Flying Service, the helicopter team, began the rescue, as assigned by the East China Sea Rescue Bureau. All flight crew members at Donghai No 2 Flying Service had worn full sets of protective clothing, equipped with rescue facilities.
Because of the severe COVID-19 epidemic situation in Indonesia, the helicopter team reported to the Xiamen Municipal Health Commission immediately and coordinated with the shipping agency to complete the entry quarantine procedures for the ill crew member.
At 11:35 am, the rescue helicopter took off and they found the cargo ship that sought to help within 20 minutes.
After a medic went to the dock to help the foreign crew member, who said his heart ached and that he had lost feeling on the left side of his body, the rescue helicopter returned and landed at Xiamen Airport around 12:30 pm.
The crew member was then transferred to First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University for treatment and received a nucleic acid test.
Soon afterward, the ground crew sterilized and ventilated the rescue helicopter. Meanwhile, the crew members on the helicopter were all quarantined.
The foreign crew member was out of danger on Sunday, with a negative nucleic acid test result. The crew members who carried out the task have been released from quarantine.
