Lifesavers managed to resuscitate a man who suffered a cardiac arrest at a North Walsham leisure centre this morning.

The victim, in his 70s, has been airlifted to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in a critical condition.

Emergency services were alerted shortly after 10.30am and rushed to Victory Swim and Fitness Centre, on Station Road, where a man had collapsed and was not breathing.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was already under way when ambulance trust staff arrived, and a defibrillator was being used on the man, according to a spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST).

The man's heart was restarted and he had been taken to hospital in the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) for further treatment.

A spokesman for the air ambulance said: 'Thanks to excellent bystander CPR the EAAA team and EEAST crew obtained return of circulation and then gave the patient a general anaesthetic and put measures in place to protect his brain.'

No-one from Victory was available for comment.

Firefighters from North Walsham also attended the incident