Coast Guard airlifts boy from cruise ship in heart-pounding rescue on high seas

By Miles Cohen & Yi-Jin Yu

The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday successfully airlifted an 8-year-old boy who was experiencing a medical emergency on the high seas off the coast of Northern California, and the heart-pounding cruise ship rescue was caught on camera.

After medically evacuating the boy from the cruise ship Royal Princess, the Coast Guard crew was able to transfer the boy and his family to a hospital in Eureka, California.

Nicole Jiang said she and her two sons were on a two-week cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii when 8-year-old Daniel started to feel sick on day two of the trip.

The family learned Daniel had appendicitis and needed to get to a hospital immediately.

"The doctor in the cruise said the situation is very [much an] emergency ... Daniel got [a] very high fever and the situation [grew] worse and worse," Jiang recalled to "Good Morning America."

Foggy conditions made getting Daniel off the ship a difficult task, and the Coast Guard was called in to assist.

U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard was called to medically evacuate an 8-year-old boy from a cruise ship off the coast of northern California.

The Coast Guard said it dispatched a medevac helicopter "around 8 a.m." local time. The crew included aviation survival technician Philip Morie and helicopter pilot Lt. Katherine McDonnell.

Both Morie and McDonnell said the foggy weather that day presented risks.

"We didn't have it in sight, which from 10 miles out, flying at like 300 or 400 feet … [it] was a giant cruise ship, we should be able to see it, and we couldn't see it," McDonnell recalled.

"We were like, 'That's unusual.' As we got closer and closer, we were out about 5 miles and we're like, 'Well, we still can't see it.'"

McDonnell, who was on her first rescue mission, said she was eventually able to locate the ship. Once there, Morie rappelled down from the helicopter to retrieve 8-year-old Daniel in a basket before returning for his mother and brother.

During the rescue, Daniel told "GMA," "I closed my eyes."

"On the way up, you know, I'm just still talking to the kid and, you know, giving him high fives and trying to keep him calm," Morie added.

The Coast Guard team rushed the family to a hospital where Daniel was immediately taken into surgery and had his appendix removed.

Daniel's surgery was successful and he remains in the hospital in recovery. He is expected to be OK.

Daniel, 8, was on the Royal Princess cruise ship when he fell ill. He had to be airlifted by the Coast Guard to a hospital in Washington.

The following day, the family and the Coast Guard crew reunited, and Morie and McDonnell gifted Daniel Coast Guard posters.

Jiang said she feels grateful for her son's rescuers.

"I don't know how to describe [it]," she said, calling the experience "unbelievable" and like a "dream."

McDonnell and Morie also said they were thankful for a successful mission.

"It's a pretty incredible feeling," McDonnell said.

Added Morie, "It's a big win for everybody involved."