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Injured sailor airlift under way Sailor in hospital after airlift
(about 3 hours later)
A sailor injured aboard a cargo ship hundreds of miles off the west coast of Ireland is being transported to hospital by helicopter. An injured sailor is recovering in hospital after being rescued by helicopter from a cargo ship hundreds of miles out to sea.
The RAF said the Burmese seaman, who was injured when he plunged 40ft (12m) into a hold, had been winched onto the aircraft. Burmese seaman Koko Kline was injured when he plunged 40ft (12m) into a hold of the vessel, off the west coast of Ireland, the RAF said.
Two aircraft and two helicopters had been scrambled. Two aircraft and two helicopters were scrambled and he was eventually flown to Shannon in the Irish Republic.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the sailor needed urgent treatment for spinal and cranial injuries. He is being treated for cranial and spinal injuries at a Limerick hospital.
A doctor from Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth had been put in touch with the ship's crew and provided advice on how to stabilise the injured man, the agency added. An RAF spokesman said the man had suffered multiple injuries, but was not believed to be in a serious condition.
A Nimrod aircraft was launched from RAF Kinloss in Scotland on Wednesday afternoon, said an RAF spokesman. The cargo ship, the Anna Rickmers, was 600 miles (965km) off the Irish coast when the accident on the 28,000-tonne vessel was reported.
The US Air Force sent a Hercules plane and two helicopters from its Lakenheath air base in East Anglia. Its crew contacted Falmouth Coastguard in Cornwall just before 1900 on Tuesday but the ship had to be directed into a particular area before a rescue effort could be launched.
The spokesman said the aircraft were expected to take the injured sailor to a hospital in Shannon, Ireland.
It will take around two hours to airlift him to dry land, he added.
'Out-of-range''Out-of-range'
The RAF spokesman said: "We had an issue with how we pick somebody up from 600 miles off the coast. A doctor from Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth was put in touch with the ship's crew and provided advice on how to stabilise the injured man, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
The rescue operation had been hampered by the vessel's distance from the coast, according to the RAF.
Its spokesman said: "We had an issue with how we pick somebody up from 600 miles off the coast.
"It is out of the scope of most rescue helicopters.""It is out of the scope of most rescue helicopters."
The cargo ship, the Anna Rickmers, was 600 miles (965km) off the Irish coast when the accident on the 28,000-tonne vessel was reported. He said the US Air Force sent a Hercules plane and two helicopters from its Lakenheath air base in East Anglia on Wednesday afternoon. An RAF Nimrod aircraft was also launched from RAF Kinloss in Scotland.
It contacted Falmouth Coastguard in Cornwall just before 1900 on Tuesday but the ship had to be directed into a particular area before a rescue effort could be launched. The planes were needed to re-fuel the helicopters. By the time they picked the seaman up, the ship was about 200 miles off the Irish coast.
The rescue operation has been hampered by the vessel's distance from the coast. The planes are needed to re-fuel the helicopters.