Who says lightning never strikes twice? Not the Falmouth Coastguard, that’s for sure.
They despatched a rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose to the cruise ship Braemar, docked at St Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly, to rush a passenger to hospital. The 79-year-old woman, who had a fractured hip, was winched from the ship and flown to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
The helicopter had been back at base for no more than a few minutes before another emergency call came through, this time for an 80-year-old passenger on the Braemar who had suffered a heart attack. He too was flown to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
Falmouth Coastguard watch manager Henry Purbrick said: “Medical evacuations from vessels are fairly routine incidents for us, but to send a helicopter to the same cruise ship in one day to take passengers to the same hospital is somewhat out of the ordinary.”
And Fred Olsen, who operate Braemar, can’t keep themselves out of the news.
Two passengers who sailed on Black Watch from South America to Southampton were each jailed for 12 years today, after admitting possession of almost £8 million in cocaine when the ship reached the UK.
Tanusa Queuedo-Ojeda and Oliver Hernandez, from Spain and both in their late 20s, were detained in March when Customs officers found more than 24 kilograms of cocaine in leggings they had been wearing and in one of their cabins.
One said they were due to deliver a third in Southampton and the rest they were taking to the Canary Islands. Southampton crown court heard they were due to be paid about 70,000 euros for their role as drug mules.
Meanwhile, in Dover, cocaine worth £1.4 million has been found on a cruise ship which had arrived from Brazil.
UK Border Agency officers searched the MSC Opera and discovered 35 kilos of the drug in cabins. Eight Latvians and Lithuanians were arrested and have been charged with drug smuggling.
Seven appeared at Dover Magistrates’ Court on Saturday and the eighth appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Monday. All pleaded not guilty and have been remanded in custody to appear at Dover Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
About the Author: John Honeywell
John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.
Two Spaniards in their 20s were always going to stick out like sore thumbs on the Black Watch. Whatever were they thinking about? Fred Olsen passengers are very English, and not in the first flush of youth. Just look at the ages of the two rescued from Braemar.
If I remember correctly, there were three young-ish passengers from a P&O ship arrested in similar circumstances a couple of years ago, and the head of security said they attracted attention because they were younger than most passengers on board.