Scuba diver survives heart attack

A woman from Manchester in the UK had her 'life saved' by a holidaymaking doctor and nurse after suffering a heart attack from decompression sickness while 20ft underwater during a scuba diving trip on the Australian Great Barrier Reef.

The 42-year-old woman was diving with her husband off the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland, Australia, when she suffered a seizure and a cardiac arrest when underwater. 

She was brought to the surface, where an Australian doctor and nurse on board the boat performed CPR while waiting for an air ambulance to arrive. 

She was revived after 10-minutes and taken to the Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition and later transferred to Townsville Hospital for decompression treatment.  

The decompression injury resulted in a number of neurological effects to the patient including temporary blindness but the victim  is said to be `progressing well' at Townsville Hospital.