Salvamento Marítimo successfully completed one of the most distant and complex medical evacuation missions recorded in 2026 in Canary waters over the past weekend. The emergency arose on Saturday when the Sheng Chen Hai vessel issued a distress call while situated 370 nautical miles from El Hierro island. Two of its crew members had suffered an accident on board that left them immobilized, requiring urgent aerial intervention for their hospital transfer. The magnitude of the distance forced the Salvamento Marítimo controllers to design a mutual support strategy among aerial resources. The Helimer 201 helicopter, a reference unit in the archipelago, departed towards the meeting point with logistical and locating support from the Sasemar 103 aircraft. This combination of assets is crucial in rescues at sea, where fuel autonomy and precision in contacting the vessel are determining factors for the mission’s success. From the onset of the alert, the International Radiomedical Center monitored the condition of the injured, who remained stable but were unable to walk unaided. The vessel reported that both affected individuals needed to be hoisted using additional stretchers, which increased the technical difficulty of the rescue maneuver, ultimately carried out about 150 miles off the coast of El Hierro after the vessel approached the shore. After completing the extraction of the injured from the deck of the Sheng Chen Hai, the Helimer 201 headed directly for El Hierro island. The helicopter landed at 18:40 hours, where a ground emergency response unit was already deployed. An ambulance from the Canary Emergency Service (SUC) took charge of the crew members for immediate transport to the island hospital, concluding a day that once again tested the response capacity of the rescue services in the vast maritime responsibility area of the islands.
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