Swiss female transported to hospital suffering an arm fracture at sea - Richards Bay:

NSRI Richards Bay. Picture shows the NSRI rescuers and the IPSS paramedic being transferred from Spirit of Round Table II onto the yacht at sea.

At 12h00, Tuesday, 15th November, NSRI Richards Bay duty crew launched the sea rescue Spirit of Round Table II, accompanied by an IPSS Medical Rescue paramedic, to rendezvous with the Swiss yacht Mabuhay, sailing from Reunion Island for South Africa, with a husband and wife onboard.Reporting to be 5 nautical miles from Richards Bay the sea rescue craft was launched to rendezvous with them.A Swiss female onboard had suffered a fractured arm and they had alerted authorities on Sunday, 13th November, while approximately 120 nautical miles from land, of the situation.A friend of the yachting couple acted as an intermediary keeping rescue authorities appraised of the situation.While it is not clear what caused the fracture of the right forearm it was confirmed that the 67 year old female, from Switzerland, was in a stable condition and the skipper, her husband, was confident to sail on without an urgent rescue response.They would estimate the nearest Port to head towards once they had sailed through the Agulhas current and both NSRI Durban and NSRI Richards Bay remained on alert expecting them at either of the two Ports by latest Wednesday.Making good headway they alerted NSRI Richards Bay that they would arrive at Richards Bay at around midday today.On arrival on the scene two NSRI rescuers and the IPSS paramedic were put aboard the yacht where they found the patient in a stable condition and the IPSS paramedic initiated formal medical treatment.The yacht was escorted into the Port of Richards Bay where IPSS Medical Rescue's ambulance was standing by and she has been transported to hospital by IPSS ambulance in a stable condition for further treatment.