Hollywood actor Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, suffered a heart attack during a London-Los Angeles flight on Friday. The 60-year-old is in an intensive care unit at the UCLA centre, reported BBC.
Her brother Todd said, “If everyone could just pray for her that would be good. The doctors are doing their thing and we don’t want to bug them. We are waiting by patiently.” The actor had been travelling extensively to promote her latest book, The Princess Diarist. He told AP that Fisher was receiving excellent care, but he could not classify her condition.
The incident took place around 15 minutes before the flight landed in Los Angeles. She was taken to the UCLA medical centre by fire department paramedics, who also administered CPR to her, Los Angeles Times reported. She has been reportedly put on ventilator support.
The airlines later issued a statement saying that a passenger was provided medical aid after she was reported “unresponsive” by the crew. United Airlines, however, did not reveal the identity of the passenger in the statement. The Los Angeles fire department said its paramedics “provided advanced life support and aggressively treated and transported the patient to a local hospital”.
Fisher was in the original Star Wars trilogy and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a sequel released last year. She has acted in other films as well including The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally. She has written four novels and three memoirs.
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