A swimming coach is recovering in hospital after his life was saved when he suffered a cardiac arrest.

Alan Doyle was taken gravely ill in a leisure centre swimming pool and had to be dragged out of the water.

Lifguards gave him CPR and used a defibrillator to get his heart going again.

He was then taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

The drama happened at the the new Dover District Leisure Centre in Whitfield on the evening of June 4.

Mr Doyle, who is in his early 70s, is now recovering in a London hospital where he had been transferred to for further tests.

The news was initially broken on the Deal Triathlon Club website by secretary Margaret Reidy.

She wrote: “Alan was taken seriously ill at our swim session.

“Without the quick thinking and response from everyone and the fact Alan is so fit and healthy, according to his wife Carol, is the reason why he is here today.

“Both Alan and Carol send their heartfelt thanks to those who went to his aid.”

An ambulance spokesman said: “We were called at approximately 7.40pm on June 4 to reports of a person in cardiac arrest at the leisure centre pool.

“Ambulance crews and a community first responder attended the scene.

“We understand that bystanders acted quickly to help and treat the man prior to our arrival.

“Thank you for everything they did to help.

“We continued to treat the man before he was taken to William Harvey Hospital.”

Mr Doyle is a long serving member of Deal Triathlon Club.

He is believed to be supremely fit, being a keen cyclist and tennis player having also swum the Channel as part of a relay team in August 2003.

He is also a retired butcher at Kingsdown.

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