Coast Guard medevacs girl from cruise ship

NEW JERSEY (FOX 5 NY) - A 7-year-old girl who became sick aboard a cruise ship from New Jersey was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Video shows the girl on the lap of an adult as they are hoisted from the ship to a helicopter. A man follows into the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter.

The harrowing incident occurred July 8 about 200 miles off the coast of Virginia.

The girl and her family were aboard the Celebrity Summit when she began feeling abdominal pain. The cruise ship was on its way from New Jersey to Bermuda.

The ship contacted the Coast Guard requesting assistance.  The girl, her parent and a nurse were taken to The Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk.

"Good communication between the cruise ship, aircrew and Coast Guard command centers in New York and Portsmouth allowed us to get this child the help she needed," said Petty Officer 1st Class Kelly Badal, a watchstander in the 5th District Command Center.