A HELICOPTER from RNAS Culdrose was scrambled to go to the aid of a man taken ill on a Brittany ferry about 50 miles (80km) off the Cornish coast.

The man, believed to be in his 50s and from Scotland, was travelling from Santander to Plymouth when he is said to have suffered at epileptic fit on the Bretagne yesterday.

Falmouth Coastguards co-ordinated the rescue, which involved scrambling the helicopter from Culdrose to the ferry, south of Lizard Point.

The man was airlifted off and flown to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro at about 8am.

In a second unrelated incident on board the Bretagne, a man suffered head and back injuries in a fall.

Coastguards said he would be taken to hospital once the ship docked in Plymouth.