In a rescue mission that lasted for 12 hours, a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter first flew from Prestwick to Glasgow on the evening of Sunday 18 January 2009 to pick up a medical team of four people as well as two incubators, and then continued on to Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, where a mother had delivered the premature twins during week 27 of her pregnancy at the Western Isles hospital.
The Sea King was stripped of several hundred pounds of fittings before flying to Glasgow to pick up the medical team and incubators which had a combined weight of one metric tonne.
Due to hazardous winds, snow and rain the Sea King stationed at Prestwick was requested instead of a normal air ambulance. The conditions were so bad though that it was considered too dangerous for the Sea King to make the flight to the maternity hospital in Glasgow.
An 24 Squadron RAF Hercules aircraft was therefore scrambled from Lyneham in Wiltshire and, with RAF medics on board, it flew to the Isle of Lewis where it picked up the babies and the medical team and landed at Glasgow Airport at 0620 hours this morning where the babies were transferred to the Princess Royal Maternity hospital.
A Scottish Ambulance Service supervisor said:
"We received a call at about 6.30pm last night that a 27 weeks' pregnant female was having a twin birth. We sent two consultants to Stornoway in the Sea King. But because of forecasts of snow and high winds we didn't feel it was safe to fly to the mainland."
One of the doctors involved in the operation said the prognosis was good for the baby boy and girl and hoped their parents would join them later today.
The Air Crew from 24 Squadron: Pilot, Major Oliver Luneau French Air Force (exchange officer), Co-pilot, Flight Lieutenant Graham Prager, and the Air Loadmaster, Sergeant Jason Howard
[Picture: Stephen McCourt]
Dr Lesley Jackson, a neonatal consultant, said this was only the second time in five years that a Hercules had been used to transport ill babies. She said:
"The babies are currently stable in the neonatal intensive care unit at Princess Royal Maternity. We've used the Hercules once before. Usually we would use the air ambulance but very poor weather meant we couldn't use that. The Hercules was the only really reliable way of getting both babies back at the same time. We would imagine the babies will be in hospital until about their due date, so roughly 10 or 11 weeks. A lot of that will be in special care, but certainly the first 72 to 96 hours are the most crucial and they are currently very stable. We would be very optimistic about the long-term outcome."
A spokeswoman for the Western Isles Health Board said the mother, was in "good health" following a normal delivery and said:
"NHS Western Isles would like to extend thanks to the retrieval team and to the RAF for their invaluable assistance in handling and responding so promptly to such an emergency situation."
An RAF spokesman said weather conditions were just beyond the flying limits for the air ambulance, with wind speeds too high and blustery, so using a Hercules was the best option. He said:
"Hopefully everyone working together will have given these babies the best possible chance. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. We hope that this will have a happy ending."