Sapphire Princess officer was airlifted off the cruise ship in the early morning hours today after suffering serious head injury. The Master of Sapphire Princess Paolo Ravera made an announcement on the PA system that there has been an officer that is in serious medical condition and needs medical evacuation. According to Singapore Cruise Society, the officers slipped and fell in the toilet and injured his head. The ship has turned back to Singapore and into an emergency anchorage for the evacuation. A rescue helicopter winched the man off the vessel early morning today in an emergency anchorage off Batu Pahat, a port in Malaysia.
Due to the delay, while waiting for local authorities to respond, Sapphire Princess will not be able to make Penang on time. Thus, the Master has officially canceled Penang as a port of call.
A letter signed by Captain Paolo Ravera was delivered to all staterooms regarding the cancellation of Penang due to the medical evacuation that reads.
“I wish to advise you of a change to our scheduled itinerary. As previously communicated, a patient required urgent medical helicopter evacuation to a hospital in Singapore. As a result of the diversion from the planned course, Sapphire Princess is no longer able to call to Penang on Wednesday, December 13, 2017. Instead, the ship will spend the day at sea and will arrive into Kuala Lumpur at 7:00 AM on Thursday, December 14 rather than 9:00 AM as previously scheduled.” Photo courtesy of Singapore Cruise Society
Our prayers are with the injured officer, and we wish him speedy recovery.
