USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) transports six injured from Bougainville to ship for critical care

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Valerie Nash | ARAWA, Autonomous Region Of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (June 30, 2015) A hospital corpsman and a volunteer with Project Hope look after a patient aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) after a patient transport mission. At the request of the government of Bougainville, Mercy launched one of its helicopters to transport six passengers, including one infant, who had swam ashore following their ship going down off the coast of Carteret Island in Papua New Guinea. The passengers were transported to Mercy and provided medical assistance. According to Navy doctors, all passengers are in good condition. Mercy is in Papua New Guinea as part of Pacific Partnership 2015. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Valerie Eppler/RELEASED)  

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

06.30.2015

Courtesy Story

Navy Public Affairs Support Element West

By Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Trevor Andersen, Pacific Partnership Public Affairs

ARAWA, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea - The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) sent an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter on a critical care patient transport mission today to retrieve six injured people, including an 18-month old infant, from Han Island, a small land mass off the coast of Carteret Island in Papua New Guinea.

Mercy received all six patients who were immediately provided medical care.

“All patients are currently in good condition,” said Capt. Melanie Merrick, the commanding officer of the military treatment facility USNS Mercy.

The deputy chief secretary of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea contacted the U.S. embassy in Port Moresby to request assistance transporting the civilians, who were survivors of a ship reported lost at sea June 27.

The mission commander of Pacific Partnership 2015, Capt. Chris Engdahl, directed his maritime operations center aboard Mercy to launch one of its helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 to pick up the injured and transport them to the ship for immediate care.

The injured had swam ashore after being lost at sea June 27. On that same day, Mercy received a request for search and rescue support from the Chief Secretary of Bougainville through the U.S. embassy, which reported a small boat missing at sea along with nine passengers, one of whom was an infant. The boat had been in transit from Buka to Carteret Island.

In response, Mercy launched two helicopters, both with Navy search and rescue swimmers on board, to search the area, but they were unable to locate the boat or any survivors.

Of the nine on board, seven were able to swim to shore including a mother and her 18-month-old infant. Of the other three, two are presumed dead and one is unaccounted for according to the U.S. embassy.

Mercy is currently in Papua New Guinea for its second mission port of Pacific Partnership 2015. Pacific Partnership is in its 10th iteration and is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. While training for crisis conditions, Pacific Partnership missions to date have provided real world medical care to approximately 270,000 patients and veterinary services to more than 38,000 animals. Critical infrastructure development has been supported in host nations during more than 180 engineering projects.

Additional information on the Pacific Partnership mission is available on the U.S. Pacific fleet Pacific Partnership website at www.cpf.navy.mil/pacific-partnership/2015/.

• Date Taken: 06.30.2015
• Date Posted: 06.30.2015 06:10
• Story ID: 168572
• Location: PG