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Sudden Vision Loss on MSC Poesia Prompts Nighttime North Sea Rescue

Freezing temperatures made helicopters unsafe, prompting a surface transfer to specialist care.

Overview

  • An English passenger lost sight in one eye late Saturday while the cruise ship was sailing from Southampton to Hamburg.
  • With helicopter evacuation ruled out due to icing risk, MRCC Bremen tasked DGzRS with deploying the Hooksiel-based rescue cruiser Bernhard Gruben.
  • The rescue vessel and the cruise ship rendezvoused north of Langeoog around 22:30, enabling a challenging transfer in roughly one‑meter seas.
  • The patient reached Hooksiel shortly after midnight and was handed to an ambulance for transport to a specialist clinic.
  • The medical cause of the sudden monocular vision loss was not known at the time of reporting.