A man was airlifted to hospital yesterday after falling ill on a North Sea gas platform off Yarmouth.A helicopter rescue crew from Wattisham in Suffolk flew the man from the platform around 40 miles north of Yarmouth to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston after the alarm was raised at 5am.

A man was airlifted to hospital yesterday after falling ill on a North Sea gas platform off Yarmouth.

A helicopter rescue crew from Wattisham in Suffolk flew the man from the platform around 40 miles north of Yarmouth to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston after the alarm was raised at 5am.

Yarmouth coastguard officials, who organised the medical evacuation, said the airlift was called in as the man was sick.