Teenage boy medically evacuated from MSC Splendida off Richard’s Bay

NSRI Richards Bay duty crew have evacuated an 18-year-old male passenger from MSC Splendida off the coast of Richards Bay following a medical emergency.

NSRI Richards Bay duty crew were activated after the ship’s doctor, in consultation healthcare teams ashore, requested that the passenger be medically evacuated due to an injury sustained aboard the ship.

MSC Splendida arrived off-shore of Richards Bay at 02h30 and rendezvoused with NSRI Richards Bay rescue craft Ocean Guardian 7 nautical miles off-shore of the Port of Richards Bay.

MSC Splendida manoeuvred to provide a lee from the wind for access to the Port hatch in 2-to-3-meter swells and a 40 knot gusting North Easterly wind.

An NSRI MEX (Maritime Extrication) crewman was transferred onto the vessel and assisted the teenager, believed to be from Johannesburg, onto the rescue craft.

“In the care of NSRI medics and accompanied by a member of his travel group, he was brought to our NSRI station 19 rescue base where we were met by a Netcare 911 ambulance,” NSRI said in a statement.

The patient was transported to hospital by a Netcare 911 ambulance in a stable condition.

MSC Splendida had departed Durban the previous evening, bound for Mozambique on a 3-day roundtrip cruise. 

The vessel is the largest cruise ship MSC Cruises has ever homeported in South Africa, sailing primarily out of Durban to Mozambique on 3 and 4 day cruises.

The ship carries more than 3,200 passengers and is nearing the end of her South African cruise season, with just three more cruises from Durban in March before she repositions to Cape Town.

From Cape Town, she will sail a further four roundtrip 4-night voyages to Namibia before heading north for the Mediterranean summer.

South Africa’s maritime emergency evacuation teams were last activated for a cruise ship in January last year, when an 80-year-old passenger suffered a fall shortly after departure from Cape Town. 

NSRI Table Bay duty crew evacuated the female passenger from the ship and brought her ashore for further treatment in hospital.

South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute was established in 1967 following a tragedy at sea the year before, when three fishing vessels were lost offshore of Cape Town in a severe storm, with 17 lives lost.

Simon’s Town school teacher Patti Price began a letter writing campaign to South African media arguing for the establishment of a rescue at sea service similar to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the UK.