An 87-year-old resuscitated after she was pulled from a burning home has died in hospital.

Medics performed CPR on the pensioner for as long as two hours after she suffered a cardiac arrest following the blaze in Elham, near Canterbury, last night.

She was rushed to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital but died this morning.

Firefighters were called to the large period house in The Square shortly after 10pm following reports of a chimney blaze.

But on arrival they discovered the fire had started elsewhere and had engulfed the kitchen.

Crews wearing breathing equipment burst into the house and pulled the pensioner to safety.

Witnesses reported seeing a team of four paramedics performing CPR on the woman outside the property, which sits opposite the King’s Arms pub.

She was eventually resuscitated and rushed to hospital, but police confirmed she died this morning.

The fire was put out shortly after midnight, with crews tackling the flames with hoses for almost two hours.

The kitchen was completely destroyed, with the rest of the house suffering serious smoke and heat damage.

The blaze had burned through the kitchen ceiling to the floor above.

At the height of blaze, three fire engines, four police cars and four ambulances were at the scene.

Crews remain at the house today as an investigation into the cause of the fire is carried out.

Police say they are not treating it as suspicious at this stage.