Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder, was airlifted by the Ecuadorian navy after suffering a kidney stone attack while on a cruise ship in the Galapagos Islands on New Year's Day, according to a Reuters report.
According to Ecuador's navy, Bezos was aboard a ship traveling between the islands of Floreana and Santa Cruz, both famed for their wildlife, when the Amazon.com founder suffered the kidney stone in the mid-afternoon.
The Ecuadorian navy helicopter flew to meet the cruise ship at Santa Cruz and flew Bezos about 20 miles to his private jet on nearby Baltra island.
In a statement, the navy said that Bezos was flown to the U.S. for an "emergency surgery."
"He had to be attended to in the shortest possible time," the statement said. The Galapagos is located about 600 miles west off the Ecuadorean coast.
Navy lieutenant Juan Carlos Ibarra was the helicopter pilot who flew the airlift.
"They informed us when the ship was arriving in Academy Bay at Santa Cruz island," Ibarra told Reuters via telephone. "We landed our helicopter on a football pitch there ... they told us that a doctor had already gone in boat to treat him onboard the yacht ... They stabilized him and took him to the United States. He was conscious, but he was on a drip."
The statement also added that Ibarra together with his helicopter co-pilot and flight engineer had received messages of thanks from Bezos' relatives and associates.
Galapagos National Park draws many wealthy and famous visitors, and Bezos was one of them. Roughly 180,000 tourists visit the National Park every year to gape at the archipelago's rich but fragile biodiversity.
According to Forbes magazine, Bezos, 49, is the 19th richest person in the world with a fortune of $25 billion.
Bezos founded Amazon in a Seattle garage in 1994 and made it the world's largest internet retailer.
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