PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- The Philippine Navy patrol rescued a 71-year-old American woman who was on a pleasure cruise at the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Marine Park in Cagayancillo.

Lt. Commander Kenneth Lozanes, commander of BRP Nestor Reinoso (PC 380), said Friday night that they medically evacuated United States national Frances Jean Lewis at the Tubbataha Ranger Station on Thursday morning, March 22 after she fractured her knee.

“Apparently, Ms. Lewis accidentally slipped in the lavatory of pleasure yacht Atlantis Asorez. She can no longer move her lower extremity, and needed to be evacuated as soon as possible due to a fractured left knee,” Lozanes told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Lewis was brought to the Palawan Adventist Hospital.

The pleasure yacht, Atlantis Asorez, was carrying 20 foreign guests, who went to Tubbataha Reefs on a diving cruise.

“The Naval Forces West continues to perform its mandate of protecting the country’s western front. It has continuously deployed its naval assets and personnel to respond to any given emergency situation in the area,” said Capt. Cherryl Tindog, chief of the Public Affairs Office of the Western Command in Palawan. (PNA)