A French sailor was yesterday the target of medical rescue, by air, when he was sailing off the Madeira Archipelago, informs the Navy. Assessed with an intestinal crisis and in need of care, the distress call was made mid-morning on Monday. He would be rescued by the EH-101 helicopter, from the Portuguese Air Force (FAP), which transported the crew, first to Porto Santo airport, and later to Madeira airport, where he landed at the beginning of the night. He was promptly taken to a hospital in Funchal.
According to information from the Portuguese Navy, the victim is a 67-year-old man of French nationality, who was on board the sailboat ‘KIM’, a vessel that was sailing at about 170 nautical miles, the equivalent of 315 kilometers, at the time. west of Cape St. Vincent. Due to the need for medical care, the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC Lisboa), which coordinated the operation from 10:40 am, immediately diverted the tankers ‘DAS’ and ‘JOSEPH WISDOM’, while the military aircraft, the EH-101, was activated, which would carry out the rescue and subsequent transport of the crew to Madeira airport, where it landed at 21:20. He would be admitted to a health unit more than 11 hours after the distress call.