A British woman who fell from a cruise ship sang to stay alive while she spent 10 hours in the Adriatic Sea, her rescuers said. 
 
 The passenger, named as Kay Longstaff, was taken to hospital in the city of Pula and said she feels "very lucky" to have been rescued. 
 
 She fell from an aft deck of the Norwegian Star cruise ship about 60 miles (95km) off Croatia's coast late on Saturday night. 
 
 A Croatian rescue ship was scrambled and found her swimming not far from where Ms Longstaff was believed to have fallen. 
 
 Image: She told how she spent 10 hours in the sea after falling off the back of the ship. Pic: MORH/Coast Guard 
 
 "Luckily for her we saw her immediately because she raised and waved her hands when she saw us," said the vessel's captain Lovro Oreskovic. 
 
 Mr Oreskovic added that she told the crew that she practices yoga and sang while floating to stay awake, but was exhausted when she was found. 
 
 "It is a real miracle that she is alive," Mr Oreskovic said. "On the cruiser ship they thought she is not. It's obvious that she's very fit." 
 
 Image: Kay Longstaff said she felt lucky to have survived 
 
 The 46-year-old, understood to be from Brighton, gave an interview to the Croatia news service HRT saying she felt "very lucky" to have survived. 
 
 "I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me," she said. 
 
 "I am very lucky to be alive. I was sitting at the back of the deck." 
 
 Mr Oreskovic said she fell from the back of the Norwegian Star cruise ship that was sailing towards Venice, Italy, shortly before midnight on Sunday. 
 
 The ship launched a search mission in the area of her fall, but could not find her. 
 
 Image: She used to work as an air steward 
 
 She was eventually rescued 10 hours later by the Croatian coast guard and taken to a hospital for a 24-hour examination. 
 
 Hospital director Irena Hristic said Ms Longstaff has suffered stress but was in good health overall. 
 
 "The woman looks young, healthy and is a sports person," Ms Hristic said. "She said she swam all the time and was conscious." 
 
 David Radas, a spokesman at Croatia's ministry of maritime affairs, said that by checking CCTV, rescuers knew the exact moment she fell in the water. 
 
 Image: Kay Longstaff leaves a rescue ship after being saved from the water 
 
 "Because they knew the time, they were able to know the exact position of the ship," he told The Sun. 
 
 A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson said: "In the morning of 19 August, a guest went overboard as Norwegian Star made her way to Venice. 
 
 "The Coast Guard was notified and a search and rescue operation ensued. 
 
 "We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive, is currently in stable condition, and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment. 
 
 "We are very happy that the individual, who is a UK resident, is now safe and will soon be reunited with friends and family." 
 
 Image: Ms Longstaff fell from the Norwegian Star cruise ship. Pic: Norwegian Cruise Line 
 
 The circumstances of the incident are being investigated and the British embassy in Croatia has been informed. 
 
 Dolores Brenko Skerjanc of the Croatian port authority said that the Adriatic Sea is warm in the summer and could have contributed to Ms Longstaff's survival. 
 
 "She spent a lot of time in the water, but the sea is now quite warm and the chances for survival are better," he told state broadcaster HRT. ||||| Woman taken to hospital in Pula, Croatia, after being found in sea 
 
 A British woman has been rescued after spending 10 hours in the Adriatic Sea at night, having fallen from a cruise ship, according to Croatia’s coastguard. 
 
 The 46-year-old, who gave her name as Kay to local media and was later named Kay Longstaff in UK reports, was taken to hospital in Pula, Croatia, and is understood to be out of danger. 
 
 It is understood she fell from the Norwegian Star cruise ship about 60 miles (100km) off Croatia’s coast shortly before midnight on Saturday as the vessel was making its way from the port of Vergarola to Venice in Italy. 
 
 Kay Longstaff. Photograph: Kay Longstaff/Facebook 
 
 The liner raised the alarm and was joined by coastguard and civilian vessels, plus a PC-9 aircraft, at about 6.30am on Sunday. The woman was spotted at 9.40am and reached by a rescue swimmer from a patrol boat minutes later, Croatian media reported, saying she was about 1.3km away from the spot where she fell in. 
 
 The rescued passenger told the Croatian news channel HRT: “I am very lucky to be alive. ... I fell off the back of the Norwegian Star and I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me. 
 
 “I was sitting at the back of the deck and, yeah ... it was bad,” she said before being taken into an ambulance. 
 
 An unnamed rescuer told the Sun: “She said the fact that she practises yoga helped her as she was fit. And she said she was singing to not feel cold in the sea overnight.” 
 
 David Radas, a spokesman for the Croatian ministry of maritime affairs, said that by checking CCTV rescuers knew the exact moment Longstaff fell in the water. “Because they knew the time, they were able to know the exact position of the ship,” he told the Sun. 
 
 The rescue ship’s captain, Lovro Orešković, said the woman was exhausted, adding: “We were extremely happy for saving a human life.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Longstaff after her rescue. Photograph: MORH/Coast guard 
 
 A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson said: “On the morning of 19 August a guest went overboard as Norwegian Star made her way to Venice. The coastguard was notified and a search and rescue operation ensued. 
 
 “We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive, is currently in stable condition and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment. We are very happy that the individual, who is a UK resident, is now safe and will soon be reunited with friends and family.” 
 
 The circumstances of the incident are being investigated and the British embassy in Croatia has been informed. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest British woman being rescued from the sea. Photograph: MORH/Coast guard 
 
 It comes weeks after a cruise ship worker fell overboard while travelling on the Norwegian Getaway – also run by Norwegian Cruise Line – in the Gulf of Mexico. The 33-year-old man, believed to be from the Philippines, was rescued 22 hours later after being found 26 miles (42km) outside the coastguard search zone in July. 
 
 A search was called off in May after an 80-year-old Australian man fell off the Sun Princess cruise ship while journeying from Indonesia to Malaysia.
– A woman on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship got way more exposure to the ocean than she intended, but lived to tell the tale. The 46-year-old British passenger fell off the back of the Norwegian Star ship about 60 miles off the coast of Croatia around midnight Saturday, reports the Guardian. The woman, identified only as Kay, managed to stay afloat for 10 hours in the Adriatic Sea, long enough to be rescued by a Croatian cruise ship that scrambled into action upon getting a coast guard alert, per Sky News. “I am very lucky to be alive," the smiling woman told a Croatian news channel before leaving in an ambulance. "These wonderful guys rescued me." The woman said she "was sitting at the back of the deck," but it's not clear yet exactly how she fell in. She was listed in stable condition and expected to be fine. Norwegian has launched an investigation into the incident. The rescue comes just weeks after a man fell off a different ship operated by Norwegian Cruise Line, and he managed to survive nearly a full day in the water before being rescued.