Is there a doctor on board? 15, actually

If you fall ill on a flight, you have to hope there is a doctor on board. So Dorothy Fletcher can count herself lucky.

When she suffered a heart attack on a transatlantic flight from Manchester to Florida, she turned out to be on a plane full of cardiologists.

Fifteen experts on their way to a conference responded when a stewardess asked for medical assistance.

They stood up en masse and rushed to save Mrs Fletcher, aged 67. They fed drips into her arms and used an on-board medical kit to control the attack.

The plane was diverted to North Carolina, where Mrs Fletcher was treated in the intensive care unit.

She had been travelling with her daughter to attend her daughter's wedding.

Speaking yesterday from her home in Liverpool, Mrs Fletcher recalled: "I couldn't believe what happened. All these people came rushing down the aircraft towards me."

She spent two days in hospital but managed to attend the wedding at Lake Berkeley, Kissimmee, the following week.

- INDEPENDENT