At about 3.00pm the Captain broadcast to passengers and crew to announce that a member of the crew was not well and needed to be airlifted by helicopter and taken ashore.
He told us to clear the decks and remain inside. He said that the helicopter would be arriving in about 15 minutes time. There was clearly a well prepared plan in place to deal with such incidents.
Shortly afterwards the helicopter could be seen and the operation was carried remarkably swiftly.
We were in our cabin at the time and no doubt we will hear from fellow passengers who were closer to the action.
I’d be interested to hear where the helicopter came from. You’re surely not particularly close to anywhere – and 14 hrs or so sailing time from Madeira. Did it come from there? Two long sea legs (there and back) in a helicopter!
Mr Brewer I expected you, a man of experience in such matters, to have checked this out for me. Please give me your best estimate.
Well, I would but unfortunately the website I’ve been using to track your position stopped reporting your position 22 hours ago. It does however say your ETA Funchal is 0645hr tomorrow. So, backtracking from there I reckon the helo came to you from either Morocco or Madeira. Looking forward to hear how accurate my DR is!