Ailing 80-year-old is airlifted from a cruise ship. It’s a dizzying ride, video shows

An 80-year-old woman spent a dizzying minute swaying and spinning in midair Thursday, as she was medevaced from a cruise ship off the coast of North Carolina.

The Coast Guard recorded the woman’s ascent off the deck of the ship Adventure of the Seas, and it shows the stroke victim spent the final 30 seconds spinning counter clockwise as she neared the helicopter.

It took about a minute to make the trip from the ship and, during the final seconds, the woman’s gurney hung head first out of the side of the helicopter, the video shows.

Coast Guard officials said the ship was 150 miles off the coast of Wilmington at the time.

The woman was not identified and her condition was not released.

A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. responded to the ship. After hoisting the woman up, the Coast Guard crew took her to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

Adventure of the Seas is part of the Royal Caribbean fleet with a passenger capacity of 3,835 people.

This story was originally published July 13, 2018 at 4:13 PM.