Plane Crew Leaps Into Action as Passenger Suffers Cardiac Arrest Mid-Flight

A woman's life was saved by cabin crew after she suffered a cardiac arrest on a British Airways flight from Buenos Aires to London.

Fellow passenger Stephen Anderson shared a viral post on X, formerly Twitter, praising the actions of the passengers and airline crew after the terrifying moment.

"Cardiac arrest on our flight. Defibrillator out and oxygen and hot towels everywhere. It was in my row too. @british_airways on flight 0248 from Buenos Aires to London - absolutely outstanding crew remained calm when other passengers got involved. Patient survived," he wrote on the social network.

In a statement, British Airways told Newsweek: "Our cabin crew colleagues are highly trained in how to respond to medical emergencies on board. We wish our customer a speedy recovery and thank our passengers for their understanding as we managed this incident."

The aircraft landed safely, and emergency services met the flight to provide further medical assistance.

Reflecting on the ordeal, fellow passenger Anderson highlighted the importance of the right equipment in emergencies: "'Defibrillators save lives' just went from a mantra to a reality in my mind. To see someone die, albeit for 10 minutes, is deeply distressing," he wrote. "This will take time to process but for now, the BA crew deserves every ounce of credit. The lady (now in the hospital) is in my prayers."

A defibrillator is a device that provides an electric shock to the heart, allowing it to get out of a potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythm, returning it to normal.

Cardiac arrest is a serious condition that claims many lives every year. In the U.S., there are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year, with 90 percent proving fatal.

Immediate CPR can double, or even triple, a person's chances of survival after cardiac arrest, while victims shocked with a defibrillator within the first minute of collapse have a survival rate close to 90 percent.

The woman on the flight was taken to hospital and is recovering, while the airplane continued on its planned journey.

Earlier this year, a doctor saved the life of a woman who suffered a cardiac arrest during a trans-Atlantic flight.

The crew urgently requested the help of a doctor when a Dutch woman's heart stopped beating. Jonatan Mareco—an Argentine doctor from La Plata in Buenos Aires Province—responded to the call and began to assist the patient. He continued to work on the patient even through turbulence doing CPR for 90 minutes and saving the 40-year-old woman's life.

Newsweek reached out to Stephen Anderson via X for comment.