Ship Retracing Titanic Voyage Turns Back for Sick BBC Cameraman [PHOTOS]

The ship retracing the voyage of the Titanic had to turn back unexpectedly for a brief time when one of the passengers suffered a heart attack!

The passenger, 56 year old Tim Rex, was taken off the ship by helicopter after falling seriously ill while covering the MS Balmoral's cruise for the BBC, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"Unfortunately a BBC staff member was taken seriously ill while covering the cruise to the site of the Titanic. Following advice from the ship's doctors he has been taken ashore to receive urgent medical treatment," a BBC spokesperson said.

The ship was already battling rough weather when this unfortunate incident happened. According to The Australian, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines confirmed the MS Balmoral had returned about 32km to bring it within flying distance of the Irish coast. It then resumed its trans-Atlantic journey, with AFP reporting it was still supposed to arrive at the Titanic sinking site in time for a weekend memorial service.

The ship, Balmoral, is carrying 1300 passengers. The cruise was ideally supposed to reach the site where the tragedy struck exactly at the same time but that may not be the case anymore. The cruise had started on Sunday, 8 April, from Southampton, where the relatives of the victims of the Titanic threw flowers and wished the ship on its way. A video of the original Titanic leaving the port was played before the Balmoral left the docks.

"I enjoyed the ceremony which was tasteful and moving. It was a worry during the anniversary that the families would be forgotten in all the razzmatazz like the cruise that left a few days ago, but this was lovely," Vanessa Beecham, who paid tribute to her uncle who died in the Titanic tragedy, told the Mirror.

The Mirror reports that each of the passengers had to pay around £6,000 for the cruise retracing the original Titanic's voyage and to finally see the site where the tragedy stuck. Many of them were dressed in appropriate costumes.

The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 in the frigid North Atlantic, killing more than 1500 passengers.