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Monday 14 October 2013

Grandmother died after plunging into icy North Sea wearing just a night gown after cruise ship crew members bungled rescue operation

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A critically ill grandmother died after being plunged into the icy North Sea wearing just her night gown in a bungled cruise ship rescue operation.
An inquest heard yesterday how Janet Richardson, 72, fell into the water as crew members tried to transfer her to a lifeboat on a stretcher.
Passengers shrieked in horror as the pensioner suffered ‘near drowning’ as she fought to stay afloat for up to eight minutes without a life jacket.

Janet Richardson, pictured with her husband George, had been airlifted to Cumberland Hospital in Carlisle after falling into the subzero waters off the coast of Norway
Janet Richardson, pictured with her husband George, had been airlifted to Cumberland Hospital in Carlisle after falling into the subzero waters off the coast of Norway
She was eventually pulled to safety using a long pole - but she died in hospital three weeks later, the hearing was told.
Yesterday, a pathologist said her immersion in the 2C water was a ‘significant contributory factor’ in her death.
Mrs Richardson had been on a cruise with her husband George, 80, to see the Northern Lights when she collapsed in her cabin with a gastro-intestinal haemorrhage in in March 2011.
The liner, the Ocean Countess, was at the time just off the coast of Norway and the captain decided she needed hospital treatment immediately.
Crew members strapped her to a stretcher with a blanket and tried to pass her to a team on a lifeboat which had pulled up beside the liner.
But a witness told yesterday how the two boats were not tethered together even though they were travelling side-by-side at 10 knots.
The boats began to move apart at the crucial moment - plunging the stretcher and Mrs Richardson into the sea.
As terrified passengers looked on from the deck, one woman was so shocked that she fainted.
Eye witness Colin Prescott said: ‘The bow wave from the cruise ship separated it from the rescue ship. As the stretcher got extended, the crew on the rescue boat let go.
‘The ones on the cruise ship could not bring it back. The stretcher was forced out of their hands and slid into the sea.
‘I saw the stretcher hit the side of the vessel. They tried to hold onto it, but it slid down vertically like a hinge and the blanket came off.
‘Mrs Richardson went one way and the stretcher went the other. She just floated off. There was abject panic on the cruise ship - that is the only way I can describe it. Voices were raised, almost shrieking.
The grandmother was plunged into the sea as cruise workers tried to transfer her to a lifeboat on a stretcher, an inquest heard
The grandmother was plunged into the sea as cruise workers tried to transfer her to a lifeboat on a stretcher, an inquest heard
It is thought the boats moved apart at a crucial moment while the pensioner was being moved. Mrs Richardson died three weeks after being airlifted to hospital
It is thought the boats moved apart at a crucial moment while the pensioner was being moved. Mrs Richardson died three weeks after being airlifted to hospital
‘Her arm went out as if she was trying to swim.’ 
Mrs Richardson was treated in Norway and underwent brain and heart scans before being airlifted back to the UK.
Mr Richardson kept a vigil by her bedside in Cumberland Hospital in Carlisle hospital until her death on April 21. Mrs Richardson, of Ousby, near Penrith, suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, raised blood pressure and was an insulin-dependent diabetic.
Prior to the cruise, she had been hospitalised with pneumonia and was due for further medical treatment on her return.
The inquest heard that she was 18st and had a history of ill-health but that fighting for her life in freezing temperatures may have contributed to her death.
Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour said: ‘She suffered near-drowning. Her head was underwater for between two and four minutes and in that time her body temperature reduced to 32C, as opposed to the normal temperature of 37C.
‘Although the eventual cause of death was from natural disease, this episode would have has a serious impact on her condition.’ 
Mr and Mrs Richardson, who had both been married before, had children from previous relationships and together have a total of eight grandchildren.
The hearing continues.

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