Bembridge Lifeboat launched to Medical emgergency onboard MV Balmoral

Bembridge lifeboat and her crew have been launched to a medical evacuation aboard the Fred Olson MV Balmoral this evening.

The crew were scrambled just after 6.10pm on Saturday, January 5th after a passenger onboard had dislocated her shoulder whilst onboard.

The 73-year-old pensioner is understood to have boarded the floating Royal Cruise Liner in Southampton that had only just left port on a two-week cruise to the Canary Islands and Madeira
Two members of the lifeboat crew boarded the liner via the pilot boat door and assisted in moving the injured pensioner to the lifeboat.

The woman has been taken to Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth for onward transfer to Queen Alexandra Hospital by ambulance.

A spokesman for Bembridge RNLI said: “The RNLB ‘Alfred Albert Williams’ (Tamar All-Weather Lifeboat 16-17) was launched at around 6.30pm this evening at the request of UK Coastguard to carry out a medivac (an elderly female passenger had dislocated her shoulder) from the Cruise Ship ‘Balmoral’ that was in the process of leaving Southampton Water bound for Lisbon.

The ‘Alfred Albert Williams’ RV’d with the ‘Balmoral’ off Stokes Bay at 6.35pm and the casualty was transferred on a stretcher to the ‘Alfred Albert Williams’ via ‘Balmoral’s’ starboard pilot hatch. She and her husband were then taken into Portsmouth Camber and transferred to an ambulance. The ‘Alfred Albert Williams’ subsequently returned to Bembridge and was recovered by 8.45pm.”