British woman brought back to life after 6-hour cardiac arrest

Audrey Marsh developed severe hypothermia when she was caught in a snowstorm while hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees on November 3.

London:A British woman whose heart stopped beating for six hours has been brought back to life in what doctors have described as an exceptional case.

Audrey Marsh developed severe hypothermia when she was caught in a snowstorm while hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees with her husband on November 3.

Marsh, who lives in Barcelona, began having trouble speaking and moving during severe weather in the Pyrenees, later falling unconscious.

Her condition worsened while waiting for emergency services and her husband Rohan believed she was dead.

When the rescue team arrived about six hours later, Marsh's body temperature had fallen and after arriving at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron Hospital, she had no vital signs.

But the low mountain temperatures which made her ill also helped to save her life, her doctor Eduard Argudo said.

Hypothermia had protected her body and brain from deteriorating while unconscious, he said, despite also bringing her to the brink of death.

He added that it was the longest cardiac arrest ever recorded in Spain.