This is the moment a Brit holidaymaker is winched from a cruise liner in the middle of the Atlantic in a dramatic rescue.
Sian Sturgis, 57, was writhing in agony after dislocating her hip and was dosed up with powerful hallucinogenic painkiller ketamine before being strapped to a gurney and lifted by rope some 75 feet to the hovering chopper.
Mrs Sturgis had been sailing from Portsmouth to Santander in north Spain – a travel route she had specifically chosen to avoid going on holiday by plane as she has a deep-seated fear of flying.
The north London-based mother of three said: ‘It was absolutely terrifying – it was like being the stunt woman in an action movie.’
The drama – captured on this exclusive video by a fellow passenger – unfolded on Saturday evening a fortnight ago as the Brittany Ferries vessel was almost 24 hours into its voyage to Spain, crossing the Bay of Biscay off the west coast of France.
Sian Sturgis, 57, was writhing in agony after dislocating her hip and was dosed up with powerful hallucinogenic painkiller ketamine before being strapped to a gurney and lifted by rope some 75 feet to the hovering chopper
The north London-based mother of three was winched into the waiting helicopter in a dramatic mid-Atlantic rescue
Mrs Sturgis had been sailing from Portsmouth to Santander in north Spain when she dislocated her hi[
Mrs Sturgis can be seen strapped to a stretcher, prior to being winched up to the helicopter
The drama unfolded on Saturday evening a fortnight ago as the Brittany Ferries vessel was almost 24 hours into its voyage to Spain. Pictured: Emergency services running through the ship
Mrs Sturgis had specifically chosen the travel route to avoid going on holiday by plane as she has a deep-seated fear of flying
Mrs Sturgis, a PA for a pharmaceutical company, recalls: ‘I am a very nervous flier so if it’s possible I try to avoid plane travel – which is why we were on the boat in the first place.’
She has experienced multiple problems with her right hip since a full replacement operation in 2020 – including three previous dislocations in the last 12 months. But a second revision surgery in April was meant to be a permanent fix.
She explained: ‘The last year had been a nightmare where I seemed to dislocate again every time I was getting back to something like normal it would happen again and I’d be back in an ambulance.
‘So eventually I decided after consulting with my original surgeon to have a revision operation.
‘That was done this April just as previously at UCH hospital in central London.
‘After slowly recovering I was told in June that it had gone ok.
‘I was told I was now fine and I could finally put it all behind me and get on with my life – I could go back to the gym, start walking again and travelling.
‘And this trip was meant to be me doing that. I was so looking forward to it as we had had to cancel three different holidays in the previous year because of my hip.’
Mrs Sturgis, a PA for a pharmaceutical company, can be seen relaxing on the ship before her incident
Mrs Sturgis has experienced multiple problems with her right hip since a full replacement operation in 2020 – including three previous dislocations in the last 12 months
A second revision surgery in April was meant to be a permanent fix, but she ended up with another injury
Nothing during the day had given any hint of what was to come, Mrs Sturgis said
When Mrs Sturgis had to be rescued she was crossing the Bay of Biscay off the west coast of France
Nothing during the day had given any hint of what was to come, she said.
‘We had such a beautiful afternoon,’ Mrs Sturgis continued. ‘The boat was beautiful, the sun was out and there were dolphins swimming around the boat. We even saw whales.
‘It was quite magical and we were so excited about landing in Spain on Sunday morning.
‘We watched the sun set over the Atlantic and then went inside for dinner.
‘It was after that that it happened. I was sitting on a sofa chatting to another passenger about our respective holiday plans.
‘I moved forward slightly to get more comfortable. Just an innocuous tiny movement. And instantly it popped.
‘I was instantly plunged into the most intense pain imaginable- and at the same time, separately I also felt just the deepest sense of misery I have ever known at the fact that it had happened again.
‘I was screaming for my husband and for help.
Mrs Sturgis said the day running up to her injury had been ‘magical’ – but the dislocation happened suddenly while she was sitting on a sofa
Mrs Sturgis said the crew were ‘absolutely brilliant’ as they tended to her
Staff radioed a hospital on mainland France to get authorisation to give her morphine
The staff gave her ketamine when she was terrified of going in a helicopter
‘He alerted the crew and very quickly the ship’s medical officer was with me.
‘She was absolutely brilliant. She understood straight away how serious it was and took it very seriously. She had to radio to a hospital on mainland France to get authorisation to give me morphine.
‘That stopped me screaming at least but it was still unclear what they would do – we weren’t due to land for another nine hours which wasn’t going to be fast enough for me to be safely treated.
‘It was then that they decided on an air ambulance. It seemed to come very quickly.
‘I was so dosed up that it became a bit of a blur at the point when the helicopter arrived. Suddenly there were people in jump suits and helmets all around me asking questions.
‘I told them I was terrified of going in a helicopter and that was when they gave me ketamine – presumably so I was passive enough to strap to a stretcher and winch up.’
The passenger she had been talking to – who shot the video, shared here with Mrs Sturgis’ permission- takes up the story.
He said: ‘The chopper was hovering at about 70-80 feet above the rear deck but it was quite windy so it was moving around a bit. They dropped a rope down and tied Sian’s stretcher to it and winched her up.
Emergency services rushed onto the ship, before dropping a rope and winching Mrs Sturgis onto the helicopter
The helicopter flew her 100 miles to Robert Picque hospital in Bordeaux – a military hospital
In Bordeaux she was rushed to theatre and given a general anaesthetic so that the hip could be reattached
‘Then they picked up the rest of the crew and swooped off. It really was an extraordinary sight.’
The helicopter flew her 100 miles to Robert Picque hospital in Bordeaux- a military hospital. There she was rushed to theatre and given a general anaesthetic so that the hip could be reattached.
Mrs Sturgis continued: ‘I was so out of my head during the flight that I thought I was in a war film – I kept thinking of Apocalypse Now and that it was real.
‘The French rescue team was absolutely brilliant though. They got me from dislocation on a boat at sea to operating theatre much faster than a conventional ambulance managed when I dislocated at home in Barnet.
‘I had hoped that they would discharge me the following day but when they did a CAT scan it showed that the prosthetic hip was broken
‘They told me this meant I was so unstable I couldn’t travel without risking it happening again at short notice.
‘I spent three days trying to get in touch with the original surgeon in London to get his advice on what to do.
‘But I never heard back from him and time was against me as so terrified of it happening again at any moment.
Mrs Sturgis said she felt like she was in a war film during the extraordinary scenes
The cost of the helicopter rescue was covered by Mrs Sturgis’s UK Global Health Insurance Card – the state provided system since Brexit
‘So in the end I decided that my only option was to have a full operation in Bordeaux rather than attempting to travel back to the UK. I felt I had no other choice.
‘I’m just terrified of it ever happening again as the pain is indescribable.’
She added: ‘I don’t understand why this has happened to me. When I first had a replacement I was told it was completely routine and would last at least 20 years allowing me to live a full and active life.
‘Instead it’s ruined my life and left me with PTSD’.
The cost of the helicopter rescue was covered by Mrs Sturgis’s UK Global Health Insurance Card – the state provided system since Brexit.
Under this universal policy, emergency situations like ambulance and even helicopter call-outs are covered.
But she did have to make a contribution to the cost of her subsequent surgery of around £1,800 – equivalent to what a French citizen would have been required to pay, as that was not deemed an emergency.
Mrs Sturgis said: ‘We were in touch throughout with the British consul in Bordeaux who was absolutely brilliant and made sure we didn’t have financial anxiety as well as health anxiety – she sorted all that stuff out for us so we knew from the outset we were not going to be liable for a bill for thousands of pounds for being rescued like that.’