Northern Territory Water Police members came to the rescue of a Philippine national yesterday when he fell ill with severe abdominal pain while aboard a vessel in outer Darwin Harbour.
The Water Police Section (WPS) was notified by the Joint Emergency Services Coordination Centre at 2:40pm about a medivac requirement from the Darwin-bound Pacific Breeze, a 300-metre Japanese LNG tanker.
Two WPS members were tasked to a police vessel, picking up a St John Ambulance paramedic from Cullen Bay to travel with them to the patient.
By 4:45pm, the emergency responders had retrieved the patient and were travelling back to Cullen Bay in rough conditions, narrowly missing a thunderstorm.
The patient was transferred to paramedics at 6:30pm.
Sergeant Andrew Hocking said it was an excellent result.
“Because of the size of the ship, and the urgency of the evacuation, it wasn’t possible to transfer the patient inside the shelter of Darwin Harbour,” Sgt Hocking said.
“We were able to utilise the ship by using an on-board crane to lift the patient and transfer him onto the police vessel.
“We were dealing with a two-metre swell and thunderstorm conditions with a storm warning for the area. Time was going against us but we managed to outrun the storm on the way out, get the male safely on board, and push through it on the way back to shore.”