Rescue chopper winches stroke victim from cruise ship off Central Queensland coast

A dramatic sea rescue has taken place off the coast of Central Queensland with a rescue helicopter forced to divert to an island to refuel before winching a passenger off a cruise liner bound for Papua New Guinea.

A male passenger who had suffered a suspected stroke was winched from the cruise liner Pacific Encounter off the Central Queensland coast on Wednesday, October 5, 2022. Photos: RACQ CapRescue.

A passenger who suffered a suspected stroke on board the cruise liner Pacific Encounter has been flown to Rockhampton Hospital after a dramatic sea rescue.

The Rockhampton-based RACQ CapRescue Rescue300 chopper was called to the ship, located about 264km east of Rockhampton, at 3pm on Wednesday.

The chopper was tasked by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s joint rescue coordination centre in Canberra after the cruise liner’s medical team assessed the 70-year-old male patient and it was decided a medical evacuation was needed.

A man who had suffered a suspected stroke was winched from the cruise liner Pacific Encounter off the Central Queensland coast on Wednesday, October 5, 2022. Photo: RACQ CapRescue.

The ship, travelling from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea, was required to turn back towards a more suitable rendezvous point for the rescue to occur.

An RACQ CapRescue spokeswoman said a paramedic joined the chopper crew for the mission and the chopper had to travel via Heron Island to refuel, and then to the cruise liner.

Yesterday we coordinated the medevac of a male patient from a cruise ship east of Rockhampton QLD. A helicopter from RACQ CapRescue winched him from the ship with our Challenger rescue aircraft providing top cover. He was taken to Rockhampton Hospital #SearchAndRescuepic.twitter.com/8UjbTsEhZM

— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) October 6, 2022

“On arrival, a winch recovery was performed and the man was stabilised and taken to Rockhampton Base Hospital for further treatment,” the spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said RACQ CapRescue had seen a recent increase in winch retrievals with Wednesday’s being the sixth recovery since August.

The winch rescue from the cruise liner Pacific Encounter off the Central Queensland coast on October 5, 2022. Photo: RACQ CapRescue.

Last Saturday, the RACQ CapRescue chopper was called to Great Keppel Island off the coast of Yeppoon for a winch rescue.

There, an interstate tourist had her holiday cut short after she slipped and fell face first into a rocky outcrop while bushwalking.

She suffered facial and lower limb injuries which rendered her incapable of walking and she was flown to Rockhampton Hospital where she required further treatment for her lacerations.