It's Norwegian Star to the rescue again

By Ron Staton
Associated Press

For the second time in two weeks, the luxury cruise ship Norwegian Star made an emergency rescue at sea yesterday, picking up a man needing medical care from a private yacht 368 miles southwest of the Big Island.

The Coast Guard contacted the Norwegian Star on Monday night and asked the cruise ship to lead the rescue of a man on a yacht who needed medical assistance, according to a statement from Norwegian Cruise Line, the Miami-based owner of the ship.

The luxury liner, on its regular weekly cruise en route to Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati, early yesterday diverted 69 miles to pick up the man, one of two people aboard the 36-foot pleasure sailboat S/Y God's Grace, the statement said.

Steve Hirano, a Hawai'i spokesman for the ship, identified the patient only as a 65-year-old man.

Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley said the man is suffering from a urinary tract problem.

The man was transferred to the Norwegian Star, which is equipped with a hospital staffed by a doctor and nurses, and was treated by the ship's medical staff.

However, his condition worsened, and the ship changed course to return to Hawai'i, the statement said.

The ship's doctor told the Coast Guard that it would be safer for the man to remain on the ship rather than attempt a transfer at sea to a helicopter, Mosley said.

The Norwegian Star is scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. today in Kailua on the BIg Island.

On Apr. 2, the Norwegian Star rescued 11 crew members who were stranded aboard an Indonesian tanker for more than two weeks after a fire in the ship's engine room. One other crewman died in the fire.

A few days later, the Hawaiian Humane Society launched a $50,000 rescue effort for the captain's dog, which was left behind on the tanker.

The effort ended after a tugboat and airplane that went to the scene determined that the tanker had probably sunk and the dog was lost at sea.

Spokesmen for Norwegian Cruise Line said the skipper of the Norwegian Star was unaware that a dog was left behind.

The search for the 2-year-old female dog named Forgea resumed Friday after a fishing vessel reported seeing a ship believed to be the tanker.

The tanker's captain and a crew member who was burned in the fire flew home April 6 to Taiwan. The other nine crew members, who are from mainland China, disappeared from their Waikiki hotel room April 3, but turned themselves in to federal immigration officials over the weekend.