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Rega rescue flights in high demand over Christmas

Significantly more Rega rescue flights than at Christmas a year ago
Significantly more Rega rescue flights than at Christmas a year ago Keystone-SDA

Over the Christmas holidays, from December 24 to 26, Rega’s rescue helicopters flew more than 150 missions, 20% more than over the same period in 2023. Rega’s assistance was also in demand abroad. From there, ambulance jets brought people back to Switzerland.

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On Christmas Eve, one Rega ambulance jet took off for Zanzibar, Tanzania and one for Varna in Bulgaria, as Swiss Air-Rescue (Rega) announced on Thursday.

On December 25, the jet crews were deployed in Italy and Kosovo. On St. Stephen’s Day, a Rega jet took off for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to fly a seriously ill patient back to Switzerland.

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Rega crews were involved in almost half of the missions for injured winter sports enthusiasts. The second most frequent cause of alarms were acute illnesses such as strokes and cardiovascular diseases.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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