Carrie Fisher: Flight audio 'describes actress as unresponsive after cardiac arrest'

Flight crew tell air traffic control nurses are helping to save the passenger

Carrie Fisher was described as “unresponsive” in an emergency call after having a cardiac arrest on board a flight to Los Angeles.

On Friday evening, it was reported the Star Wars actress suffered a “major” cardiac episode 15 minutes before a United flight from London was due to land in Los Angeles, California.

Her brother, Todd Fisher initially said she was in a critical condition in an intensive care unit in UCLA hospital but stable. He later issued a more cautious statement, telling Reuters: “I’m not saying she is fine or not fine,” and telling other reporters he had little information.

Apparent audio between the flight crew and air traffic control discussing the 60-year-old’s condition has now emerged. The flight crew can be heard responding to air control who asked for details that medically trained passengers were attempting to save an "unresponsive passenger".

"United 935 heavy, I need the nature of the medical emergency and also the sex of the patient. Is there a medical personnel at the gate?" air traffic control asks.

“Yeah, we've coordinated medical personnel for the gate. We have some passengers, nurses assisting the passenger, we have an unresponsive passenger,” a male voice reported to be the pilot can be heard saying.

“They’re working on her right now, we’re going to have her seated in about two minutes here and we should hopefully be on the deck in about five.”

United airlines issued a statement on Friday saying Flight 935 from London was met by medical personnel on the runway after a female passenger was reported to be unresponsive.

A spokesperson for police at LAX airport said: “Los Angeles police responded at 12.15pm to Terminal 7 regarding a female victim who went into cardiac arrest.

“Upon arrival, the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) was already performing CPR on the victim and the victim was transported to a local hospital for further medical treatment.”

The LAFD also said their paramedics “provided Advanced Life Support and aggressively treated” a female patient at a gate before transporting her to hospital.

Hundreds of well-wishes have poured in from fans and friends of the actress on social media in the wake of the news.

Mark Hamill, who starred alongside Fisher in the iconic series as Luke Skywalker, said he was sending all his love to the actress.