Unwell woman winched from Royal Caribbean ship

An unwell 60 year old woman has been winched by helicopter from Rhapsody of the Seas

The woman from Sydney, Australia was aboard the Royal Caribbean ship which was 40 kilometres off the Southern Gold Coast when she began to feel unwell

The RACQ CareFlight rescue helicopter was deployed to Rhapsody of the Seas after receiving a call from the ship that the passenger needed medical attention.

A paramedic onboard the aircraft winched down onto the ship to assess the Sydney woman and decided she did indeed need to seek medical attention on land. She was raised from the ship and flown to the Gold Coast airport where she was transferred by ambulance to John Flynn hospital, thought to be in a stable condition

CareFlight spokesman Brian Russell said the woman was "generally unwell" but further details about her illness were not immediately available.