Nearly 30 people per day rescued in air operations
The demand for emergency air lifts is on the rise, reports Swiss air rescue service Rega. In 2017, it operated 12,660 flights – a 6.5% increase on the previous year.
In total, RegaExternal link personnel served 10,788 people, or 29 per day on average. Nearly 900 missions required an ambulance jet; the rest were handled using helicopters, reported the non-profit foundation on Wednesday.
Rega – whose work is funded by donations, membership fees, and insurance companies – coordinated 15,958 missions in 2017, which is 5.7% more than in the previous year.
Rega also arranges rescue operations for the Swiss Alpine Club – or for trapped cavers or animals in need. Such operations are carried out with commercial aircraft.
Operations included, for example, the repatriation of patients from abroad via a scheduled flight, as was the case for 348 patients. Another 901 patients flew home in one of Rega’s three ambulance jets.
Illness is the most common reason people request a Rega flight; in 2017, 44% of its helicopter operations were for patients who had suffered a serious or acute illness such as a stroke or cardiovascular disease. Winter sports and work- or traffic-related accidents accounted for far fewer rescues.
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