A mother from Massachusetts spoke exclusively to ABC News after her 12-year-old son was part of a high-stakes cruise ship rescue by the Air Force, hundreds of miles off shore.
Angela Bridges was aboard the Carnival Venezia cruise ship with her family, including son Aiden, en route to New York City from the Caribbean when he fell seriously ill, concerning the medical team on board.
At the time of the critical medical incident, the ship was outside of North Carolina and more than 350 nautical miles off the coast.
And the young man in the hospital in in just a manner of hours,” Lt. Col. Dave Underwood told ABC News.
“After that the whole ship like cheered and was screaming and yelling ‘yay’,” passenger Katie Reed who took video of the moment, told ABC News.
“It’s not just the Coast Guard or the Air Force, or the doctors or the nurses.
“Carnival Venezia’s team worked with United States Coast Guard and Air Force officials to adjust its course Saturday so a medical helicopter could rendezvous with the ship when a guest on board needed treatment ashore.
The ship then resumed its route to New York, arriving as scheduled Monday morning,” Carnival said in a statement to ABC News.
A Massachusetts mother, whose 12-year-old son was involved in a high-stakes Air Force cruise ship rescue hundreds of miles offshore, spoke exclusively to ABC News.
As her son Aiden became critically ill, raising concerns for the onboard medical staff, Angela Bridges was traveling from the Caribbean to New York City with her family on the Carnival Venezia cruise ship.
“We’re going to do an x-ray,” the medical staff informed Bridges, “and it looks like he has a perforation in his bowel. The next thing we need to do is get him off the ship,” she recalled in an exclusive interview with ABC News. ****.
The ship was more than 350 nautical miles off the coast of North Carolina when the critical medical incident occurred.
The patient was safely extracted from the ship and taken to the closest medical facility by the Air Force’s 920th Rescue Wing, which was composed of two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, two HC-130J Combat King II aircraft, and two teams of combat rescue officers and pararescuemen.
Bridges recalled, “We were standing there watching the whole time, and I was just screaming and crying over the helicopter blades.”. It was really frightful. “.
The smoothness of this rescue actually is what’s amazing. We went from receiving no notice at all to having planes prepared and eventually in the air. In just a few hours, the young man in the hospital,” Lt. Col. To ABC News, Dave Underwood said.
While other passengers on the cruise watched, the rescue personnel descended and retrieved the boy, who was in critical condition, then his mother.
Filmed by passenger Katie Reed, who captured the event on camera, “the entire ship like cheered and was screaming and yelling ‘yay'” after that. The fact that this child had a better chance at life as a result of that incredible team was truly amazing to watch and observe. ****.
At a hospital in North Carolina, Aiden is presently getting better.
“I have a great deal of gratitude and appreciation for everyone who has contributed to my son’s healing,” Bridges stated. It’s not limited to the Coast Guard, the Air Force, medical professionals, or nursing staff. That group of individuals is it. ****.
When one of the guests on board needed medical attention ashore, Carnival Venezia’s crew coordinated with officials from the US Air Force and Coast Guard to change the ship’s route on Saturday. The ship then continued on to New York, arriving on Monday morning as planned, according to a statement provided by Carnival to ABC News.
