An HH-139A helicopter of the 85th SAR Center of the 15th Wing carried out the emergency transport after embarking a medical team in Latina
Last night, Thursday 17 August, an HH-139A helicopter of the 85th SAR Center (Search and Rescue) of the 15th Stormo of the Italian Air Force carried out the emergency transport of a pregnant twenty-nine year old in imminent danger of life from the island of Ponza (LT) in Rome.
As required by the operating procedures, the request for intervention was received by the Rescue Coordination Center of the Aerospace Operations Command of Poggio Renatico (FE) from the Prefecture of Latina. In a short time, the helicopter took off from the military airport of Pratica di Mare for the base in Latina, headquarters of the 70th Wing, where it embarked a medical team to assist the patient during the flight.
After taking off again, the military helicopter landed on the "Santa Lucia" helipad in Ponza (LT) where the woman was quickly boarded; the crew then took off towards Rome, to land on the heliport of the "Agostino Gemelli" hospital, where the patient was taken care of by hospital staff.
The helicopter then returned to the Pratica di Mare base to resume readiness for the national SAR alarm.
The 85th SAR Center is one of the departments of the 15th Stormo of the Italian Air Force whose institutional mission is to guarantee, 24 hours a day, 24 days a year, without interruption, the search and rescue of the crews troubled flight. Furthermore, the department contributes to many public utility activities such as the search for missing persons at sea or in the mountains, the emergency medical transport of life-threatening patients (as in the case described) and the rescue of seriously traumatized people, also operating in marginal weather conditions.