A passenger sailing on the cruise ship MSC Grandiosa was medically evacuated yesterday by the Italian Coast Guard after suffering from internal bleeding. 

The Operations Room of the Port Authority in Trapani received a call at 1:30 am by the Captain of the cruise ship requesting urgent medical disembarkation and transfer of a female passenger who was suffering from severe pain in the abdomen. As soon as all the information to manage the current emergency was acquired, the doctor on duty at the International Radio Medical Center (CIRM) was immediately contacted, who deemed it necessary to immediately transfer the patient for further medical treatment in a land-based hospital.

Patrol boat SAR CP 849 was immediately dispatched and intersected the cruise ship 18 miles south of the port of Marsala. The patient was transferred to the rescue boat and then accompanied to the Paolo Borsellino hospital. The emergency evacuation happen as the ship left the port of Valletta, Malta, and was sailing to Barcelona.