London: Britain's Prince William performed his first rescue since becoming qualified as a search-and-rescue pilot last month, the Royal Air Force (RAF) said on Tuesday.
It happened on Saturday after a crewman on an offshore gas rig became seriously ill, the RAF said.
William was the co-pilot of a four-man crew on an RAF Sea King helicopter that picked the crewman up from the accommodation rig next to the platform in Morecambe Bay, about 50 miles north of Liverpool.
They transferred the man to a helicopter-landing site, where he was put on a waiting ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital, the RAF said.
"Prince William is pleased finally to be able to contribute to the life-saving work of the Search and Rescue Force," a spokesman for the prince said. "He is proud, after two years of intense training, to be able to serve in one of Britain's foremost emergency services."
William, the second in line to the throne, graduated from the training course last month and was posted to RAF Valley, the station on the island of Anglesey in north Wales. He is known as Flight Lieutenant Wales within the RAF.
Search and rescue crews assist both military personnel and civilians in the United Kingdom, rescuing people from water, mountains, flooded regions or other areas on land.
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