A passenger on a cruise ship sank about 170 miles off the coast of Los Angeles on Sunday after experiencing severe stomach pain, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
At approximately 1 a.m. on Saturday, the Coast Guard District Eleven Command Center received a request for medevac for a 63-year-old man from the Grand Princess ship operated by Princess Cruises who was experiencing severe abdominal pain.
When the call was received, the cruise ship was located more than 1,000 miles off the coast of San Diego.
A spokesperson for the US Coast Guard told Fox News Digital that the Jayhawk helicopter does not have the capability to be able to conduct rescues that far from the coast.
Due to the distance from shore, the Coast Guard placed the cruise ship on a communications program where cruise ship crews and the Coast Guard communicated every four hours until the ship came within range of a Jayhawk helicopter crew for rescue. .
At 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, more than 36 hours after the initial call, a Jayhawk aircrew was able to lift the man who was experiencing abdominal pain from the Grand Princess ship.
During the rescue, Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento C-27 Spartan aircrews provided in-flight assistance.
Once the Jayhawk returned to shore, the man was seen being assisted by an ambulance.
According to a press release, the rescue was the first conducted by the newly established Coast Guard Air Station Ventura.
