Cruise passenger, 73, dropped into Arctic

A GRANDMOTHER taken ill on a cruise ship fell into the freezing Arctic Ocean after being dropped by paramedics transferring her to a rescue boat.

It took eight minutes to recover Janet Richardson, 73, from the icy waters.

Mrs Richardson, from Penrith, Cumbria, was travelling with her husband George, 78, on the cruise ship Ocean Countess.

She was taken to hospital in Norway and later transferred to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, where she was being treated last night.

Mrs Richardson had been struck down with internal bleeding on the voyage from Hull to Norway on a trip to see the Northern Lights.

The captain of the Ocean Countess called for a rescue boat and as she was being lifted from the ship to the rescue boat, her stretcher slipped from the grasp of the rescuers.