It was a week of heroic rescues after a team from Rescue 500, the Queensland Government’s air rescue helicopter and the Sun Princess came to the aid of several people.

Rescue 500 air lifted three people from the Pacific Pearl and Pacific Jewel earlier this week. A male passenger was winched from the Pacific Pearl when the cruise ship was more than 70 nautical miles east of the Gold Coast.

On the Pacific Jewel, a crew member and a passenger were airlifted after becoming sick with unrelated illnesses.

Check out the heroic footage here.

A P&O Cruises spokesman confirmed that separate helicopter medical evacuations were conducted from Pacific Pearl and Pacific Jewel off south east Queensland.

“Our ships have sophisticated medical facilities on board with highly trained doctors and health professionals. On occasions it is deemed medically necessary for patients to be transferred to a shoreside hospital for further care. It is an unusual coincidence that airborne medical transfers were needed on consecutive days in the same area.

“The first from Pacific Pearl on Wednesday involved a male guest who sustained a head injury in an onboard accident. The transfers yesterday involved a female guest and a crew member with unrelated acute medical conditions requiring shoreside health facilities. The onboard care and medical transfers are evidence of the priority we give to looking after the health needs of our guests while on a cruise holiday with us.”

Also this week, the Sun Princess rescued five people who were adrift in Vanuatuan waters.

The group, some of which were family members of a senior Vanuatu Government minister, were successfully rescued west of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu waters after midnight on Tuesday.

The Sun Princess was around 115 nautical miles from the stranded vessel and the ship diverted from its course to Champagne Bay to rescue the five people. The group were rescued at around 1am local time.