BEIJING, Sept. 26 -- On September 23 local time, the Chinese PLA Navy hospital ship "Silk Road Ark", carrying out the Mission Harmony 2025 in Nauru, utilized its shipborne helicopter for the first time to transfer five patients for medical treatment onboard.

After conducting health examination, the medical team sent by the ship identified five residents with severe complications of diabetes who urgently required treatment. Due to the limited surgical facilities at the local hospital, the hospital ship therefore activated its pre-established helicopter medical evacuation (medevac) plan. Upon the helicopter's arrival at the transfer point at Nauru International Airport, Chinese medical personnel coordinated urgently with Nauruan staff to move the patients into the helicopter cabin for transport to the ship. Twenty minutes later, the helicopter landed on the deck of the hospital ship "Silk Road Ark".

This mission served as a comprehensive test of the mission crew's capability for medvac of patient in overseas environment. It marked the first time the PLAN hospital ship "Silk Road Ark"executed a medevac in which a shipborne helicopter took off and landed at a foreign civilian airport.

On the same day, all five patients completed their preoperative examinations. The next step will be to receive surgery aboard the hospital ship.