The US Coast Guard sped to the rescue of a Carnival Cruise Line passenger stricken by a case of battery ingestion off the coast of Texas.
The 86-year-old man was medevaced from the Carnival Corp subsidiary’s 3,646-berth Carnival Dream (built 2009) while it was 80 km off Galveston.
The Coast Guard said its watch standers received the call from a crew member on the ship at 7.22pm local time Saturday (0022 GMT Sunday) after the passenger started experiencing gastrointestinal problems and other side effects from ingesting the battery.
The flight surgeon on duty recommended a medevac, leading the agency to dispatch an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Houston.
After the helicopter crew hoisted the passenger from the Carnival Dream, it took him to University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was in stable condition.
Battery ingestion is no laughing matter.
Most cases are benign because the battery passes through the gut without injury, according to the National Capital Poison Center.
But even patients who have no symptoms at first can suffer from complications, including severe burns of the oesophagus, that can be fatal.
The rescue came a week after another Coast Guard operation on the Carnival Magic showed the possible risks to crews in such incidents.
After Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans dispatched a helicopter to the medevac a passenger suffering symptoms resembling those of a heart attack, the aircraft experienced strong winds as it was hoisting a nurse from the ship some 480 km off Fort Morgan, Alabama.
“During the rescue, the aircrew experienced severe and rapidly deteriorating weather that forced them to abort the mission,” said commander Keith Blair, who is in charge of Air Station New Orleans.
“Through exceptional real-time risk management, crew resource management, and superb piloting, the aircrew was able to safely recover the aircraft and land at the air station without further incident.”
The Coast Guard later returned to pick up the passenger and the rescue swimmer who had been lowered to the Carnival Dream.
