A NURSE from East Lancashire was hailed a heroine after she saved a passenger's life on a packed airliner.

Christine Gregson sprung into action after a pensioner collapsed with a suspected heart attack on a long-haul flight from Australia.

The 42-year-old, a former theatre nurse at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, who is staying in Preston Old Road, used her skills to stabilise the stricken Londoner until the plane landed at Singapore. Today Christine, who emigrated to Australia 16 weeks ago and was returning to Blackburn for a family wedding, relived the ordeal.

She said: "I have only been qualified two years and you don't really expect something like this happen to you.

"Nobody else knew what to do and the crew thought the man was going to die.

"He had stopped breathing so I provided him with oxygen. It was about two hours into the flight and I sat with him for about four hours until the plane landed at Singapore."

"I had to get another plane onto Manchester so I am not sure what happened to him."

Modest Christine added: "People were thanking me at the end, but I was only doing my job."

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