The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Sunday airlifted a South Korean national in need of urgent medical attention from an oil tanker ship off the Goa coast to a hospital near the state’s Dabolim airport. The oil tanker ship named ELIM had left the Kandla port in Gujarat on June 3 and was near the Goa coast when it sent a message for help on Sunday morning, the ICJ said in a statement.

“Captain of the ship, Yi Myong Bok, a 50-year-old South Korean national, needed emergency medical management," it said. While the vessel was directed to proceed towards Goa with best available speed, a swift operational plan was drawn up by the ICG’s headquarter in Goa for safe evacuation of the patient, the statement added.

The ICG launched a Chetak helicopter from its enclave in Goa, and it reached the oil tanker ship at 11.50 am, it said. The helicopter airlifted the person amid gusting winds at 12.05 pm, the ICG added.