Taiwan's air rescue team pulled a sick cruise passenger off a ship at sea, a good outcome in a risky operation.

• A 53-year-old passenger on the Explorer Dream cruise ship had serious bleeding in the digestive tract and could not walk.
• The ship's doctor decided the case was too urgent to wait and called for a helicopter.
• A Black Hawk flew out from Hualien airport, hovered over the ship, and a rescuer was lowered to lift the patient aboard.
• The helicopter landed at a baseball field in Hualien, where an ambulance took the patient to hospital.

Outlook: The patient is now in hospital care, and sea airlifts like this stay routine for ships passing Taiwan's east coast.