Two Typhoon Lockdowns, Two Air Medical Relays: Donghai Rescue Helicopter Evacuates 5 Critical Patients from Xiyang Island in One Month

Published: August 30, 2026  |  Category: Industry

In August 2026, two typhoons struck in quick succession, sealing off Xiyang Island in Haidao Township, Xiapu County (Ningde, Fujian province) not once but twice. On August 8, as Typhoon No. 13 "Baihaitun" (White Dolphin) approached, all passenger ferries across Ningde's maritime jurisdiction suspended service. On August 27, as Typhoon No. 18 "Sader" closed in, every vessel around the island was halted again. During each lockdown, critically ill islanders had no sea route to hospital — and twice, rescue helicopter B-7346 of the Donghai Second Rescue Flight Team ("Dong Er Fei") of China's Ministry of Transport Donghai Rescue Bureau airlifted the patients off the island to tertiary hospitals in Fuzhou, landing both times directly on hospital rooftop helipads. Based on reporting by Fujian Daily (Southeast Net), Fuzhou News Net and China National Radio (CNR), this article recaps the two "air relays of life" and examines what they show about air medical transport in practice.

1. August 8: 31 Minutes for a Boy with Suspected Intracranial Hemorrhage

As reported by Southeast Net on August 10 (Fujian Daily reporter Shan Zhiqiang, correspondent Li Qiaohong), at around 8:30 a.m. on August 8, a 5-year-old boy on Xiyang Island slipped while jumping off a bed and struck the back of his head on the tiled floor. His family took him to the township health clinic: no obvious external injury was found, but the child was listless. With the clinic's basic equipment unable to perform a CT scan, the family was sent home to observe. Within half an hour, the boy began vomiting and his consciousness became clouded; back at the clinic, doctors strongly suspected intracranial hemorrhage, urged immediate evacuation off the island, and raised the alarm with the township's flood-control command. At 10:27 the alarm was received and the emergency mechanism activated level by level; at 10:38 the Xiapu Maritime Safety Administration confirmed the critical facts: a head injury with a high risk of intracranial hemorrhage, and a complete suspension of sea transport. A rescue speedboat was considered first — and rejected, because heavy seas and violent motion could worsen the boy's brain injury. After multi-level consultation among provincial, municipal and county authorities, the Donghai Rescue Bureau dispatched the Donghai Second Rescue Flight Team. At 11:53, helicopter B-7346 landed at Gongdong pier; at 11:56, the boy boarded accompanied by his grandfather; at 12:27, the helicopter touched down on the rooftop helipad of the Binhai campus of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University — just 31 minutes from takeoff to hospital landing. An immediate CT confirmed an occipital fracture with intracranial hemorrhage; an evening re-scan showed the bleeding had not expanded. By August 9 the boy had stopped IV infusions and was talking and eating normally. CNR covered the same rescue on August 10 under the headline "Typhoon Baihaitun Arrives: Helicopter Rushes to Island to Save 5-Year-Old."

2. August 27: The Same Helicopter, Four Critical Patients in One Sortie

According to Southeast Net's August 28 report (Fujian Daily reporter Shan Zhiqiang, correspondent Yan Chenxi), on the morning of August 27, with Typhoon Sader approaching and all ferry services suspended, four critically ill patients emerged on Xiyang Island: villager Lin, whose right eye was splashed with rust remover while repairing boat parts on August 25 and whose symptoms had steadily worsened; a 93-year-old man with acute urinary retention, whose severely enlarged prostate was compressing his urethra after failed catheterization attempts at the clinic; a 60-year-old woman with sudden dizziness, vomiting and night sweats of unknown cause; and a 71-year-old dialysis patient with unstable hypertension and uremia — who, per Fuzhou News Net, had already been resuscitated at the island clinic on August 26 when her blood pressure reached 200 mmHg. Haidao Township activated its emergency rescue coordination mechanism and reported up the chain; the Donghai Rescue Bureau assigned the Donghai Second Rescue Flight Team to fly the evacuation while coordinating with the receiving hospital. At 11:45, the same helicopter B-7346 landed precisely at Nan'ao pier on Xiyang Island; shortly after noon it touched down on the rooftop helipad of the Fujian Hospital of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University (Huashan Fuyi Hospital) in Fuzhou. Fuzhou News Net reported on August 28 (reporter Pan Wenxiang) that the hospital swiftly completed patient handover, condition assessment, vital-sign monitoring and triage; by 1:00 p.m. all four patients had undergone emergency CT scans and been admitted to the appropriate departments: the eye-injury patient was treated by ophthalmology and discharged with improved symptoms, the 60-year-old woman was admitted to gastroenterology, the 93-year-old man to urology, and the uremia patient — diagnosed with chronic renal failure — to nephrology. All three inpatients remained in stable condition.

3. What the Two Rescues Share: A Mature "Island-to-Hospital" Air Corridor

Set side by side, the two rescues are strikingly alike: the same island, the same Donghai Second Rescue Flight Team and B-7346, and the same chain — island alarm, maritime/flood-control coordination, professional flight-crew execution, rooftop-helipad reception at the hospital. On August 8, pier-to-helipad flight time was 31 minutes; on August 27, about 40 minutes from Nan'ao pier to Huashan Fuyi Hospital. Under the same conditions, sea transport was either impossible or a matter of hours. Equally notable is the receiving end: in both cases the helicopter landed directly on a tertiary hospital's rooftop helipad, and patients moved straight from aircraft into emergency care with no secondary ground leg. This is the same logic behind the "air rescue green channel" emphasized when Ruijin Hospital's Jinshan campus opened in Shanghai (see our August 29 report): the true measure of air medical transport efficiency is the connection between helipad and operating table.

Disclaimer: This article is compiled from public reporting: Southeast Net / Fujian Daily (August 10, 2026, "Typhoon Lockdown: A Life-and-Death Rescue on Xiapu's Xiyang Island," reporter Shan Zhiqiang, correspondent Li Qiaohong; August 28, 2026, "Xiapu County: An 'Air Relay of Life' on the Island," reporter Shan Zhiqiang, correspondent Yan Chenxi, photo by Chen Haibin), Fuzhou News Net (August 28, 2026, "Four Island Patients from Xiapu Flown Directly to Fuzhou for Treatment," reporter Pan Wenxiang, correspondents Xu Linshi and Liu Fangzhou), and China National Radio (August 10, 2026), all accessed on August 30, 2026. Patients are referred to by anonymized names as in the original reports; official announcements by competent authorities prevail. This article is industry news commentary and does not constitute medical advice; the feasibility and specifics of any air medical transfer must be assessed by qualified medical institutions.