9am briefing: Cruise passenger rushed to hospital

AN AUSTRALIAN pensioner was rescued from a cruise ship in the Firth of Forth and taken to hospital after suffering a respiratory arrest.

The 75-year-old man, who is in a serious condition, was removed from the MS Eurodam - a Holland America Line ship - by the Dunbar RNLI team just after 2am today and taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by ambulance. The man was accompanied by his wife.

A spokesman for Forth Coastguard said: "He had really bad problems breathing but we don't know what caused that. These cruise vessels carry doctors but it was decided it was best to take him onshore and get him checked out in a fully-equipped hospital."

TRIBUTES TO TRAGIC DIVER

The family of a man who died after getting into difficulty while diving have paid tribute to a "loving, caring man".

Graeme Mackie, 31, from Tranent, East Lothian was pulled unconscious from the water and airlifted to hospital but did not recover.

He was diving off the coast off Methil in Fife on Saturday when fellow divers noticed that they had not seen bubbles rising, as would be expected.

Two divers from a nearby catamaran went into the water and pulled him to the surface.

He was taken to shore by lifeboat and then flown to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he died.

In a statement, his family said: "Graeme was a loving, caring man who was devoted to his son Daniel, partner Kelly and his close family.

"Graeme will be sorely missed by all his family and friends."

SUICIDE BROADCAST

Right to die campaigner Margo MacDonald tdoay claimed a TV documentary on the issue screened last night strengthens her case.

The independent Lothians MSP, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, said she had been very moved by the BBC2 documentary Choosing to Die, which showed the death of a motor neurone disease sufferer who decided to take his own life at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.

She said: "I saw a discussion afterwards on BBC2 and the people opposed to the right to choose I thought were left high and dry with very tired arguments, that had been disproved by what we had just seen and heard on television."