British passenger airlifted off cruise by Spanish coast guard after experiencing heart issues
A British passenger aboard a Princess Cruises ship was airlifted to a hospital by the Spanish coast guard after experiencing heart issues during her voyage.
Images released by Spain's Galician Coast Guard show emergency personnel and cruise staff helping a woman into a helicopter rescue basket before being airlifted on Wednesday, 26 March.
'The Pesca 1 helicopter of the Galician Coast Guard service evacuated a passenger from the Sky Princess cruise ship, 15 miles west of A Guarda,' the coast guard said.
They added the woman was airlifted 'due to heart problems' and was transferred her to the Álvaro Cunqueiro hospital.
The coast guard told The Sun it had 'coordinated the medical evacuation of a British woman from the cruise ship Sky Princess, which had departed from Vigo heading to Funchal, five miles southwest of Cape Silleiro."
Sky Princess left Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a 27-day one-way cruise around Spain and Portugal, with stops also in Morocco and the Canary Islands before it is due to anchor at its final stop in Southampton on 5 April.
The cruise was roughly halfway through its itinerary after leaving Vigo, Spain on its way to Funchal, Portugal when the British cruise passenger had to be airlifted back to Vigo to be hospitalised.
Another Princess Cruise ship hit headlines earlier this month after several of its passengers and crew were injured during a sailing from Sydney after the vessel encountered rough waters and dramatically tilted on its side.
Sixteen passengers and crew sustained injuries after the Crown Princess, which was on a two-week round trip, hit strong winds after changing course close to Milford Sound, a famous fjord on New Zealand's South Island.
Video footage shows staff scrambling to grab breakfast dishes and plates rolling down the kitchen as passengers battled to stay upright at the buffet.
The on-deck swimming pool can be seen spilling over as the ship tilted with pots and pans crashing onto the kitchen floor and perfumes toppled from shelves in the gift shop.
The captain told guests that the ship had been hit by a 75-knot wind, which momentarily increased the vessel's speed and tilted the boat by 14 degrees.
The Independent has contacted Princess Cruises and the Galician Coast Guard for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Breaking Barriers: Virginia Beach implements bilingual signs for beachgoers
The video above is from a May 2025 WAVY report on beach safety. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – As summer officially approaches, the City of Virginia Beach wants visitors to the beach to stay safe. Virginia Beach has implemented a new safety measure to reach a broader audience of residents and tourists. Virginia Beach EMS has partnered with Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard to install over 60 bilingual signs, in both English and Spanish, on lifeguard stands across the Oceanfront and Sandbridge beaches. The signs were installed in time for the busy Memorial Day weekend. Virginia Beach safety reminders ahead of summer season The Virginia Beach Oceanfront attracts local residents and visitors from outside the state, for its waves and tourist amenities. The new signs include a QR Code, which links to the City's . The page has a link to the oceanfront safety map that shows water hazards or advisories in real time which give citizens information that could potentially be lifesaving. Each sign includes details about red flag warnings, rip currents, and general beach safety precautions. 'The signs allow better language access along the Oceanfront and an ability to get the same safety information if some beachgoers don't read or speak English,' said Rob Gramkowski, EMS assistant chief – special operations. 'The signs ensure we are keeping everyone as safe as we can.' 'By adding a second language, it's inclusive and allows more people to pay attention to a warning,' said Drew Reibel, Sandbridge lifeguard supervisor. 'It also allows us to effectively communicate and give information to our visitors and residents from different backgrounds.' For more information, check out for beachgoers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Thousands of sun loungers removed in Majorca after anti-tourism protests
British holidaymakers heading to Majorca next summer will face increased competition to secure a sunbed, after the Spanish island announced that it would remove 1,700 from beaches around Palma. It comes after pressure from locals, who say there is hardly any space left to lay out their towels. Similar rules were put in place in Costa Blanca last year, where police began confiscating sunbeds placed on the beach before 9.30am and charging offenders £214 to get them back. Palma's council said it planned to reduce the number of sunbeds across the city's beaches by about 20 per cent. Playa de Palma, the largest, will have its 6,000 loungers reduced to 4,436. In Cala Major, the number of sunbeds will decrease from 300 to 250. In Cala Estància, in Can Pastilla, 132 will remain from an original 150. In the suburb of Ciutat Jardi, 300 will be cut to 288. Residents say they struggle to find space because of the large number of pay-per-use sun loungers and parasols, a problem made worse by the fact the island's beaches are receding due to years of sand erosion and rising sea levels. Anti-tourist sentiment has soared in Spain in recent years, with regular protests taking place across the country. Last summer, activists armed with water pistols soaked holidaymakers as they dined outside cafes in Barcelona. In March, anti-tourism campaigners in Majorca published an open letter telling visitors 'not to come' and that they were 'the source of our problem'. A demonstration organised by Southern Europe Network Against Touristification is set to take place on June 15 across several Spanish cities and islands – including Majorca – as well as in Venice and Lisbon. The campaigners say too much tourism prices out locals and causes environmental issues. A study by Fotocasa, the housing platform, last year showed that the average monthly rent in the Balearic Islands had risen from €562 to €1,451 in a decade, with prices considerably higher in hotspots such as Palma. Authorities have in response announced plans to limit the number of tourists arriving and invest in local infrastructure projects. In March, the Balearic Islands government, which administers Majorca, announced a slew of 'tourism containment measures', which included increasing a tax on visitors and putting a levy on hire cars. Barcelona has announced a €30 million scheme to revitalise the tourist hotspot of Ciutat Vella after public services reportedly suffered because of the area's popularity with visitors. The plan involves redesigning public spaces and converting old buildings into arts centres, as well as investing in housing and schools. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sweat, tears, devotion: Pilgrims cross the wilderness to honor the Rocío Virgin in Spain
EL ROCIO, Spain (AP) — Their faces, hats and flamenco dresses caked in dust, hundreds of pilgrims gathered around an ox-driven carriage with their icon of the Virgin Mary after slogging on foot, horses and wagons through dirt roads for nearly 12 hours. The festive flamenco music stopped, the ubiquitous beer bottles and wine glasses were put down, and the Catholic faithful prayed an evening rosary by pine trees in the wilderness a few miles from the hamlet of El Rocío. 'One can drink and hang out. Our best friends are here. But it's essential to pray,' said Meme Morales, who's been doing this pilgrimage since the early 1990s, this year with her two grown daughters. 'The Virgin is something that forms part of our life.' Venerating the Rocío Virgin has been a tradition since the main icon was discovered near this village in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia around the end of the 13th century. It has grown into one of world's largest, most unique Catholic pilgrimages. For days before Pentecost weekend, about a million people do the 'romería del Rocío' in swirling clouds of dust that's as pervasive and natural as the faithful's devotion. Feast and faith as pilgrims make their way It looks like a rolling, wild party, even among the religious brotherhoods, more than 130 of whom participate, taking different paths from around the region and as distant as Brussels. Morales' group is the Triana brotherhood. From when they break camp around dawn until well into the night, they sing flamenco songs, many specific to each brotherhood — accompanied by guitar and rhythmic clapping. Homemade food and copious amounts of water, beer and sherry are shared with friends and strangers alike. But there are prayers at every break along the country paths, priests to hear confession at day's end, conversations about the pope, mission trips and social outreach, even solemn Masses in the fields. 'Without that, this wouldn't make any sense. It would be a picnic,' said Patricia Rodríguez Galinier, who oversees liturgical celebrations for the Triana brotherhood. Based in a neighborhood by the same name in Seville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, it's one of the largest and oldest, founded more than 200 years ago. Rodríguez had just helped set up Mass by the Triana 'simpecado' — meaning 'without sin.' It refers to their version of the icon of the Virgin, carried by an ox-driven cart covered in silver and fresh flowers. At each night's camp, wagons are set in a circle and people gather to worship through the night. With the oxen tied to small trees and some riders still on horses in the 90-degree weather (33 Celsius), more than 700 faithful listened to the homily by their spiritual director, the Rev. Manuel Sánchez. He quoted Pope Leo XIV 's first public words about God's love for everyone — adding, to laughter, that love included those at that moment receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation behind the wagon still grasping their beer bottles. 'There's a profound sense of spontaneity in El Rocío … just like in the Gospel when Jesus goes to have dinner with folks,' Sánchez said later. 'We have a lot of time to come to God crying in life, but that's not El Rocío.' One reason for the pilgrimage's down-to-earth nature is El Rocío's location, in the wetlands and sand dunes of the Guadalquivir River's estuary, said Juan Carlos González Faraco, a University of Huelva professor who has studied the pilgrimage. Until the last few decades, when large-scale greenhouse farming and natural protected areas have taken over, it was a malaria-prone wilderness frequented mostly by cattle and horse ranchers. That's allowed the centuries-old pilgrimage tradition to continue without the strictness of other places of devotion to Mary. It has stayed in the hands of the brotherhoods instead of the institutional church, said González. He's a member of the main brotherhood from Almonte, the closest town to the sanctuary that manages its white church filled with golden images and orange sand from the pilgrims' footsteps. Its president, Santiago Padilla, spent hours at the sanctuary's doors Saturday, solemnly welcoming each brotherhood as they arrived. 'They come laden with intentions, supplications, prayers. And it's the moment we shake their hands, we hug and we give thanks to the Virgin for this pilgrimage they made,' said Padilla, whose family has been pilgrims for generations. A return to countryside roots Padilla wore an impeccably white jacket and formal riding kit, like many members of the brotherhoods who do the pilgrimage on horseback. Women wear shawls and long, flaring dresses or skirts — to better ride sideways on horses and protect themselves from the brush and the sun. Such outfits might look like Spanish stereotypes, but they pay homage to the working traditions of many families from the area. 'Everything that has a good presence takes us a bit closer to God,' said Ignacio Sabater Wasaldúa, the Triana brotherhood leader. He rode horses this year alongside his son, helping lead the dozens of wagons and thousands of pilgrims on foot. The brotherhoods stress that their commitment to Christian life transcends one yearly pilgrimage — though it draws inspiration from it and they wouldn't consider missing it. 'El Rocío should be a model for society, with affection and solidarity,' Sabater said. Triana, for instance, maintains a chapel with daily Masses and brings nearly 200 youth from marginalized backgrounds to the brotherhood's house in El Rocío for a summer camp. 'I'm a rociera the whole year,' said Macarena Ruíz, who started participating in the late 1980s and whose three children are camp counselors. Despite Spain's growing secularization, youth remain involved in the pilgrimage, whether to maintain a family tradition, make new friends or live out their faith. This year, Triana's youth group organized Eucharistic adoration late into the second night at camp. 'That's the assurance that this will not be lost,' said Esperanza García Rivero, whose grandfather took his wagon on the pilgrimage in the 1940s. Sweat and tears before Mary, mother of God Hidden beneath the traditions and the festivities, many pilgrims are motivated by promises they made to the Virgin. After a double mastectomy for breast cancer, Paloma Maria had a large Mary tattoo designed between her shoulders. 'It's her who takes care of me. My Rocío Virgin is everything for me,' said the young woman from Cordoba. Maria Mendoza also came to give thanks when, together with García and her close Triana friends, she walked into the sanctuary Saturday after the brotherhood was formally received in front of it. More pilgrimage events awaited, culminating in Sunday night's final procession of the Rocío icon to visit every brotherhood in town. It's a massive scrum that lasts hours, after which the faithful make their long return journeys, on foot, horses and carts. But this was the first moment when the women were finally face to face with their Virgin. Tears quickly mixed with sweat and dust on their faces. 'So many thoughts swirling, for you, for your friends … it's just an explosion,' Sara de la Haza whispered. Then someone in the crowd intoned the Triana's salute to the Virgin. The friends wiped their eyes and started joyfully singing — 'You are the white dove, you are what I've loved the most since the day I was born.'
