An obese American tourist who fell ill on a cruise ship had to be carried off by helicopter.

The man, who weighs 32 stone (203kg), was on board a luxury five star cruise ship anchored in the Firth of Forth when he suffered gastric problems.

...
After winching the sick man from the Century Cruise Liner, run by Celebrity Cruises, it flew him to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where fire crews were on standby to transfer him into the building shortly after 0600 BST on Saturday.

Link

The guy received emergency surgery and is recovering.

FYI, 32 stone is about 448lbs. In an earlier incarnation of this article, they said that the usual procedure is to get the person onto another boat, but they assessed the situation and deemed it would be impossible to expect him to climb down the side of the ship. I wonder how far a climb that would be. I would imagine it would be difficult for someone who is ill or injured to make the climb down even if they didn't weigh 32 stone.

And, ofc, it had to be an american.

For those who aren't sure, this is a winch. I'm sure you've seen them lots of times in movies and videogames. They're constantly getting jammed or burning out in these genres. You might also see them on trucks for towing.