A five-year-old boy with suspected appendicitis has been airlifted off an oil tanker off the coast of Bermuda and is being brought to the Island for medical treatment.

Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre received an emergency call about the child just before 11 p.m. last night, when the Bahamian-registered Axel Spirit was 250 nautical miles east of here.

A duty officer told The Royal Gazette today: “In consultation with the US Coastguard flight surgeon, the decision was taken to airlift the child to Bermuda for hospitalisation.”

A C-130 aircraft and an HH-60 helicopter were sent from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to rendezvous with the ship and the child and his parents, all Indian nationals, were safely airlifted onto the helicopter earlier today.

The aircraft is due to land at L.F. Wade International Airport at about 1.30 p.m, where an ambulance will be waiting to take the boy to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The family were travelling as “supernumeraries” — i.e. non-crew members — on board the Axel Spirit on its way from Sidi Kerir, Egypt, to Paulsboro, New Jersey. The 63,000 ton ship, carrying Arabian light crude oil, has continued on its journey.

* Read the full story in tomorrow’s edition of The Royal Gazette.