A STUDENT nurse with a fear of flying helped save the life of a woman 36,000ft in the air.

Tonya Barker, from Clifton, York, was nervously flying home from her first trip abroad when a passenger on her holiday jet collapsed.

She followed the stewardess along the aisle to where the woman was lying on the floor, almost unconscious.

Mrs Barker, 40, said: "She was blue around the lips and her husband was panicking.

"I have done some training, but I had never done anything like that before. I got her pulse, noticed she was breathing and said she needed some oxygen."

Mrs Barker, a mother-of-six, was returning from Majorca after her first holiday abroad because of her fear of flying.

An announcement was made over the intercom asking if there was a doctor on board.

No doctor came forward, although there was a midwife with 20 years' experience on the plane who offered to help.

She and Mrs Barker helped the woman to breathe using an air bag to force oxygen in and then pushing down on her chest.

It is thought the woman may have been suffering from motor neuron disease, and it is believed she could have died without the intervention because she was unable to breathe properly.

The stewardess, after speaking to the captain, asked the two medics if they should make an emergency landing at Toulouse, France, and they agreed.

However, when invited to go back to their seats and put on the seatbelts for landing, they refused, choosing instead to stay with their patient to make sure she was all right.

Once on the ground, paramedics came on board and took the woman to hospital.

Mrs Barker, still controlling her fear of flying, then had to endure another take-off.

She said: "I could not believe I had to go through take-off again. I was absolutely terrified."

She and the midwife were treated to champagne and chocolates by the cabin crew after the incident.

It is not yet known what happened to the woman they helped.