GOD BLESS THE NAVY: SAVES TEENAGER WHOSE APPENDIX BURST WHILE AT SEA ON CRUISE

AP:

A teenager whose appendix ruptured at sea, hundreds of miles from help, got safely to shore Tuesday after an unusual rescue in which the Navy airlifted her from a cruise ship for emergency surgery. Laura Montero, 14, fell ill aboard the Dawn Princess cruise ship off the coast of Baja California.

The Bahamian-registered ship sent out a distress call Friday that was answered by the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on training maneuvers about 500 miles away.

The nuclear carrier was the closest ship with a hospital facility, according to a news release from the Navy. It steamed overnight toward the cruise ship, which was about 250 miles northwest of Cabo San Lucas when the call went out.

A helicopter took off from the Reagan around 5 a.m. Saturday to close the final 175-mile gap between the ships. The crew arrived after a 45-minute flight and lowered a medic onto the cruise ship deck in a basket because there wasn't space to land, said Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Leland, the pilot.

Montero, who was on an antibiotic drip, was loaded into a litter basket, lifted into the helicopter and flown back to the Reagan for an appendectomy. Her mother stayed aboard the cruise ship.

• THE SHIP WAS FITTINGLY CALLED THE REAGAN.

• OUR MILITARY DOES STUFF LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME - FOR A FEW PEOPLE, FOR THOUSANDS, FOR NATIONS AND MILLIONS.

• AT THIS TIME OF YEAR WE SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY THANKFUL FOR A LL THEY DO.

GOD BLESS THE US MILITARY.