An F-16 fighter jet came to the aid of a patient who was fighting for his own life.

A special lung and heart machine was needed for the complex critical care of one of their patients, who would die otherwise, but the hospital staff in Bodo, Norway had no such skill or equipment.

A facility in Trondheim, about 280 miles away (450 km), however, did have a machine available.

Hospital officials contacted the Air Force, which was just getting ready to send two fighter jets into the air from a base nearby. Luckily one of the planes was equipped with an external hold big enough to fit the life-saving equipment.

Normally the jets span such a distance in 35 minutes, an air squadron told a Norwegian newspaper, but the pilots "stepped on it" and arrived in just 25.